a smidgen of solidarity

i love a sixty-eight degree room as much as the next american, but as of late i’m finding air conditioning hard to justify.

for starters, there’s the whole global energy crisis, and the troubling effects of our nation’s ever-expanding carbon footprint on the planet i’m handing off to my kids. but more importantly, i’m just not convinced that tweaking the air temperature to suit my comfort is a wise use of our money and resources.

i was thinking about this last week sometime: what does most of the world’s population do when it’s hot out? they deal with it. in fact, a good portion of the earth’s poor are consumed with thoughts of scraping together the next meal or the odds of their sick child surviving a ten mile trek to the closest clinic, which may or may not be out of meds this week. air temperature doesn’t even register on their cognitive radars.

this whole Spoiled American bit is wearing thin, and i want out.

i am blessed to be married to a man who not only humors my latest efforts to live conscionably, but usually finds himself climbing aboard for the long haul.

hurrah for fab husbands.

my free (albeit obvious) tips for dealing with hot, muggy days:

1. dress in cool, light clothing
2. turn on a fan (which still consumes energy, i know, but is a far cry from the appetite of a condensing unit)
3. stay hydrated
4. shower in cold water
5. let hair air-dry after a shower
6. keep windows open during the night/early morning, closed during much of the day
7. move to hawaii where near-constant trade winds make 85 degrees feel like 75 (useful tip list, isn't it?)
8. rinse face/neck with cool water
9. when all else fails, suck it up

would you consider joining me? if not for an entire summer, maybe just a month? a week? one day per week for the next three months?

maybe this won’t change much for our planet or our global neighbors. but maybe it will. and at the very least, this changes me, and that makes the effort worthwhile.