Class consciousness, air conditioners, a portrait, and a song or five

[sabotabby]

So, I don't have a thermometer, but I'd estimate the current temperature of Missnegativity HQ* at 30ºC or more. Here's a science experiment that demonstrates exactly how hot it is:

9:45 PM


Overnight


I don't know how long it's supposed to take a block of solid ice to melt, but it seemed pretty fast. I live on a third-floor apartment with a full southern exposure, upstairs from a restaurant. The apartment is configured in such a way that all the heat from the restaurant ovens somehow ends up in my bedroom. I have two fans blowing cross currents but they don't help much. Neither kitty nor I have any sort of an appetite (that might be good in his case, but I do worry. He's lethargic and cranky.) I look very much like I do in this portrait done by rote -- frizzy-haired, red-faced, and with little anarchy symbols for eyes.

Okay, maybe not the last bit.

The point of this infodump is: It's fucking hot, and I want air conditioning.

"Oh teh nooes!" you say, "How can an environmentalist who complains about smog and talks about peak oil and energy efficiency be considering getting air conditioning? You hypocrite!"

So, in fairness, I started doing some research on why air conditioning is environmentally destructive and what kind of alternatives exist for guilty white liberals people who are really hot right now and want a better way to cool down.



PlanetFriendly has an informative page that seems to be typical of environmentalist approaches to heat and energy conservation. And by typical, I mean bourgeois, classist nonsense. There's a lot of that in the environmentalist movement, of course, which is why I'm often quick to qualify what sort of an environmentalist I am. Let's take a closer look at what I'm talking about.

First, they guilt you with all the reasons why you shouldn't have air conditioning. Thing is, they are right. It's destructive to the environment, it wastes valuable energy, it's isolating, and somewhere Halliburton is probably making a profit from it. Okay. My apartment feels like the Ninth Circle of Hell here. Tell me what I should do about it!

Fans in each room: Okay, got that. I have three rooms and two fans. I don't need a fan in the bathroom. I have fans in the bedroom and kitchen. They're not actually helping very much. The site suggests ceiling fans. I'm sure my landlord will love it if I install one of those.

This is where the classism begins to emerge. Because I live in a rental building, like many people in urban areas, very few of the solutions mentioned on this site are feasible. This -- and every other site I've found about energy conservation -- is aimed at people who own their own homes. Middle class and rich people. The same people who are driving cars all over the city and filling it with smog.

Some of the other solutions -- "long-term solutions" encouraged by these fine folks: weatherization/insulation; light-coloured roofs; attic ventilation; deciduous shade trees; window awnings; highly insulative construction methods such as strawbale.

Here is a picture of my street. Plz tell me where I can plant deciduous shade trees kthnxbye.

They also suggest things like having a healthy diet and living near "green and shady spaces or a large body of water." This is great for the sort of people who get to shop around for a home. I'm afraid that all of the condos near the waterfront are already sold, though, so I'm out of luck there.

The best suggestion, though? Take off your shirt. Nope, I've never thought of that one. As I'm sitting here, I'm wearing a sweater. And mittens.

A sample quote:

For years we've been brainwashed by the advertising industry to feel ashamed of our bodies. To believe that sweat is disgusting – while the chemical stench of deodorants, hairsprays and perfumes is somehow acceptable.

Dear "primitivists" and Deep Ecologists: It's these sorts of statements that make the rest of us -- even those of us who might otherwise be sympathetic to your arguments -- not take you very seriously.

So I'm back where I started -- still looking for a way not to die of heatstroke. I don't think getting air conditioning would be the worst thing. After all, the same factors that make my place unbearable in the summer make it incredibly energy-efficient in the winter. This winter, I only had my heat turned on for about two weeks. It probably balances out. On top of that, living where I do means that I don't need to drive anywhere, I can buy locally-grown food for the most part, and I'm not sucking up huge amounts of energy.

This is another illustration of the idiocy of politics based on white liberal guilt. There's not a lot that I, an individual who already leads a not-really-damaging-by-First-World-standards lifestyle, can actually do about the smog problem in my city. It's caused by car-centric urban planning. We don't need people like me feeling guilty about air conditioning. We need cities that are designed better to integrate work and life, sustainable energy and development, and a sense of community. That's not saying that an individual shouldn't care or try to minimize the damaging impact of his or her lifestyle. But guilt trips are counterproductive and detract from the real, permanent solutions.

Still, if any of you have alternatives (that wouldn't blow the shitty wiring in my building), I'd love to hear 'em.

+++

frandroid tagged me with the music meme...

List five songs that you are currently digging. it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artist, and the song in your journal, then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.

The songs:

Free Satpal Ram - Asian Dub Foundation
Neo-Con Luv Song - Iron Sheik, featuring Excentrik and Masari
Farewell to Nova Scotia - Stan Rogers
The Phantom of the Opera - Lacrimosa
Sleep Somehow - Wolfsheim

[Insert comment about having rather varied taste in music here]

I'm not tagging any of you. If you haven't done it yet and want to, consider this your invitation.


* I should have a contest to name Missnegativity HQ. We always meant to name the building something cool when the PKK boys were downstairs and Sara lived across the hall, and never got around to it.

Comments

[alchea.livejournal.com]

sit in a cold tub of water for a while?

[sabotabby]

Every night.

[alchea.livejournal.com]

sucks dude. i feel your pain - that's what it was like living in the unbelievably humid Chicago summers BUT THEN I MOVED TO THE COAST BWAHAHAHAHAHAAA.

I actually had a window unit there, my excuse being my underdevoloped respitory system.

[xturtle.livejournal.com]

It's more aimed at body temp than room temp, but a favorite childhood fix was always keeping a watersoaked handkerchief/bandana in the fridge (more than one is best, so there's always a "fresh" one). Tied around the head or neck, it cools you down on contact, then continues to cool when/if the water evaporates (on more humid days, you'll probably just alternate as they become hot and wet instead of cold and wet, but it's still cooling the area of greatest impact, your head).

As for kitties, mine seems to like being allowed outside to lay on the shady concrete. I know you sometimes take yours on walks (and I love seeing the pictures!), so maybe pop a cool bandana on your head and head out to find some shade?

Hope this is at least marginally helpful, or if not, that you find it entertaining that someone went to this much trouble to explain something so low-tech. I live in Minnesota, and I'm finally starting to believe that our weather really is similar to much of Canada.

CJ

[sabotabby]

That's what I did all last summer. It didn't do wonderful things for my hair, but it worked quite nicely.

I'm thinking I ought to wet the cat, too. He won't like it.

[xturtle.livejournal.com]

Wetting cats = cheap entertainment. It's a win-win situation: cat gets cool, you get giggles:-)

CJ

[sabotabby]

Yeah -- figuring out I could get my cat wet cut my TV-watching in half.

[alchea.livejournal.com]

We used to freeze jugs of ice (use an old beverage container) for our rabbits to lay on.

[bike4fish.livejournal.com]

A now deceased cat of mine used to love to get into a tub of cold water when it was hot out - but then again, she was not averse to jumping into the tub at other times, either.

[sabotabby]

Pictures of wet Marinetti to come...

[teapolitik.livejournal.com]

"For years we've been brainwashed by the advertising industry to feel ashamed of our bodies. To believe that sweat is disgusting – while the chemical stench of deodorants, hairsprays and perfumes is somehow acceptable."

Dear "primitivists" and Deep Ecologists: It's these sorts of statements that make the rest of us -- even those of us who might otherwise be sympathetic to your arguments -- not take you very seriously.

Aside from the part about odor, it's the same thing people have been saying since Emma Goldman. And there are certainly people (myself included) who do actually prefer the odor of sweat (that is, sweat, not haven't-showered-in-months funk) over the odor of most deodorants.

[sabotabby]

Well, the advertising-body shame comment is quite legit. (And I loathe the smell of hairsprays and perfumes, personally.) I just resent people telling me that I shouldn't use deoderant/shave my legs/use pads or tampons/ etc. because I'm caving in to the advertising industry or the patriarchy or whatever. It still comes down, ultimately, to personal choice. Most of the people who say those sorts of things to me have light-coloured hair and don't seem to sweat or bleed a lot.

[teapolitik.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[xol0tl.livejournal.com]

Too bad where I live, air conditioning isn't really even an option. Every building is built with air conditioning standard, and older buildings have an evaporative cooler at the very least, but even the hippies can't escape the Arizona heat without it.

[sabotabby]

We actually have an air condition system in the building, apparently. (I'd really rather not get a window unit -- I don't get enough light in my apartment as is.)

All the landlord needs to do is hook it up. I bet he won't.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

This is where the classism begins to emerge. Because I live in a rental building, like many people in urban areas, very few of the solutions mentioned on this site are feasible. This -- and every other site I've found about energy conservation -- is aimed at people who own their own homes. Middle class and rich people. The same people who are driving cars all over the city and filling it with smog.

Dude, you are in an apartment, thus you are TEH POOR and can't afford air conditioning!!

I have two fans blowing cross currents

Cross currents, as in a draft that starts from one end of your apartment and comes out of the other? Have you checked to see if one side of your building is cooler than the other, and make the entry point of your draft on that side?

I'm thinking about getting air conditioning as well. The smog causes respiratory problems for F, I can't bear the heat, and THE NOISE!!! Sleeping with your windows open at the corner of bloor and spadina, even (or particularly) at the 20th floor means that you are at a nexus of fire and police truck traffic, sirens blaring and all. I hate them. I'll post my "abusive firefighting response" entry soon. Anyway. I'm thinking about the A/C. Last year we were waiting for the first seriously bad heatwave to hit but thankfully we didn't get it. We are actually blessed with an updraft, which, combined with an opened patio door, just tears through our apartment. I'm thinking parts of its power comes in the form of a lake breeze. So it's not as bad here, but it's not stellar either.

[sabotabby]

Dude, you are in an apartment, thus you are TEH POOR and can't afford air conditioning!!

I get TEH LANDLORD to pay for it OMG!

The entry point of my draft is the windows, presumably. The only part of my apartment that's bearably hot (as opposed to unbearably hot) is the bathroom, which faces west, and a wall.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

oh you mean, you only have windows on one side? That doesn't help you create a draft. Hmmm.

[sabotabby]

I have the largest fan in the window and it sucks a bit of air in. Not enough.

more unsolicited advice

[yallabaxna.livejournal.com]

Have your fans blow hot air OUT of your appt during the day, and blow cooler air IN the appt at night.

not at all unsolicited

[sabotabby]

Hmmm...you can do that?

Re: not at all unsolicited

[yallabaxna.livejournal.com]

just flip them facing the other way.

[mr-flabulous.livejournal.com]

yes, EXACTLY.
thanks for articulating that better than i can.

you know what i'd do without ac? sleep all day and only move if i had a car, because i'd be too sick of the heat to take public transit. that would really be revolutionary cause i'd no longer do anti-oppression organizing but i'd reduce global warming by one trilliionth of 0.000000001 percent.

heat makes me not function. i like old-fashioned environmentally destructive ac on full blast. and i like deodorant and eating meat, too.

cause i don't have the luxury of living in a straw bale hut on some isolated hippy commune. and i don't think that i can shed my middle class privilege by boycotting my parents' shower.

[sabotabby]

But B.O. is empowering!

[schramm.livejournal.com]

there really isn't a good way to cool an apt. mostly because so much heat builds up in those buildings. when you own a home you can think about ground water heat syncs, to heat and COOL your home, and other 'heat pump' strategies, but other than that i mean you need to get the heat out of the apt along with the humidity, AC is about the only good, cheap way to do that. :(:)

[sabotabby]

Bloody rentals. That's what I was afraid of.

[bike4fish.livejournal.com]

I know Toronto can be pretty humid, but what's the humidity like in your corner of Hell? If it's low enough, an evaporative humidifier will work well as what is known here as a swamp cooler. If the humidity is low enough, the cooling you get for the amount of energy expended is considerable.

[sabotabby]

It's humid and smoggy, probably made worse by the large pots of water I've been leaving out for the cat. It feels like air soup in here.

[ornery-chick.livejournal.com]

Popsicles. You can make your own out of whatever...juice, pureed fruit, Kool-Aide, whatever you like. I am way the hell fond of popsicles. You can get the moulds for them at the Dollar Store usually.

[sabotabby]

Hmmm...I'm enamoured of popsicles, but lately I've had an aversion to anything with sugar in it. Weird. I just drink tons of water. I worry about the kitty and his fluffy fur coat, though.

[ornery-chick.livejournal.com]

How's the old Marinetti acting? Griswald doesn't seem at all fazed by the hot weather, and he's a longhair domestic, too. If he seems to be suffering, you could send him to the groomer for one of those Kitty-Poodle lion clips.

[sabotabby]

He's hot and sluggish. I'm thinking of getting him sheared. I took him out on the roof last night when there was a breeze, and he seemed much happier.

[rote.livejournal.com]

Does the resteraunt at least compensate and give you free food ever? :(

I'd put some heat blockers on my floor and teach them a thing or two.

[sabotabby]

I don't think their food is very good. The restaurant that was there before at least had entertaining former members of the PKK.

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

i just bought an air conditioner

[sabotabby]

FASCIST!

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

My response to bougie AC critics:

Fuck off. You own a car and destroy the atmosphere 12 months out of the year. Let me have my three.

That said, summers are usually ridiculously humid in the River City and my choice cheap adaptation is a wet black t-shirt. I soak it in cold water, wring it out and slap it on. Because it's black, nobody can tell it's wet unless they touch it. Some may object that that's not an option for women, but I disagree. Wet t-shirt contestants wear light colored tees without a bra. A black tee with a bra should handle any modesty concerns. Try it out around the apartment, if you are dubious. Of course, the tee eventually dries out and requires another soaking. It happens even faster if you are outside on your bike, but that's just one of three reasons McDonalds has bathrooms.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Because it's black, nobody can tell it's wet unless they touch it

Of course, people do notice something different about my wet tee:

They think it's new.

[sabotabby]

I do that a lot in the summer. Fine for weekends; not so much for work.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

How about say, getting a/c and only using it when you really really need it.

That's what I did in Brooklyn.

And I would wet my cat too. ^_^

I have a/c in my house, but the temp is set to 78. It only goes on when it's really really hot out, like today (91 F and humid as a motherfucker).

And I second what mr_flabulous said. :)

Though I don't shower every day all the time, it's not for any political reason. It's because I'm a lazy ass fucker. ;)

[sabotabby]

That's what I might do. The only problem is that if I get a window unit it'll probably blow the circuit in my place. So I have to convince the landlord's incompetent and cheapskate son (as the nice landlord is off in Greece) to get the building one working. I'd have no control over it, but at least I'd have electricity in my apartment.

[khalinche.livejournal.com]

aside from the heat problem, satpal ram got out of prison a couple of years back, finally.