*Le Sigh*

[volksdragon]

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Cheryl Kennedy had just one word to describe the stagnant, sticky, downright dense heat that blanketed the downtown business district and most of the nation.

"Insanity. Insanity!" she said.

After a long sip from her bottled water, Kennedy added, "This is not fit for human beings. Without air conditioning, I don't think many of us could last like this for too long." (Italics mine)


Does this depress anyone else? Yeah, the heat sucks. Yes, it's hot. I HAVE A FEELING PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SURVIVING WEATHER LIKE THIS FOR A FEW HUNDRED/THOUSAND YEARS BY NOW.

Are we really becoming that dependent on technology, are we becoming collectively so soft, that we'd die out in the woods if the temperature stayed above 90 for a week?

Comments

[siercia]

something bear in mind though -

particularly in cities, the environment that we've created traps heat in a way that would never have been seen 100 years ago (or certainly not 200). The amount of pavement and buildings that reflect heat instead of absorbing it, the air conditioners the spend all day pumping hotter air out than the air they're cooling, the comparative lack of shady spaces all make for an urban environment that is far warmer than we used to have.

Also, personally, I think that AC makes it harder to cope with the heat, because it messes with our regulation systems and blocks our normal bodily ability to cool itself. But that's just me.

[scirocco.livejournal.com]

Those are very good points. Asphalt sucks up AMAZING amounts of heat (40-50 degrees over ambient temperature) and makes it even hotter than it would normally be. That's why even I come back looking wilted from the races on the airfield.

[ex-prunesnp.livejournal.com]

I was going to say what she says--it's the modern stuff of a city that makes it so damned hot, AC exhaust included.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is what I was thinking... that inner cities are much hotter than, say, plains or woods or whatever because of all of the asphalt and tall buildings and lack of breeze and all of that. The way the heat gets trapped up in all of those freaking big densely-packed buildings is kind of incredible.

That said, I hate air conditioning. I don't mind the heat. Jen, however, does not feel the same way.

[vorpalbla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you beat me to the point about cities. Out in the woods at 90 degrees might be better than the city at 100.

I do like AC, though. I could survive without it but don't much want to.