Thoughts on Air Conditioning

I don't like Air Conditioning. Plain and Simple. We seem to be using it less and less on the Farm. Even in this August heat, we have not turned it on this week. I should probably muse on reasons why. I love to explore ideas and thoughts that I have never considered before.

Air Conditioning seems artificial. If Creator wanted us to be in a cooler, He probably would have birthed us in an Ice Cube. Now, that is another story.

Air Conditioned Air smells odd. I don't know why. It does not smell like Fresh Summer Air which is replete with a plethora of aromas. Air Conditioned Air smells artificial to me. It smells as if it has been recycled through some kind of used and slightly soiled Human constructed filter. Yuk. That surely can't be good for us.

My Body and my Spirit get disoriented in Air Conditioned Spaces. This is complicated by the fact that many of these spaces are short on Windows to the Natural World. I know what the Season is, yet maybe it is Spring, or late Fall. Artificial at that. At some kind of elemental level, my Body and Spirit feel out of sync with what is, what should be.

I miss the Sounds of Summer. Instead, I am fed a pablum of gray noise, the whirring of some kind of machine. My Ears want to hear something different. I yearn for the Symphony of Summer. I yearn for the specific moments of the Symphony which define the time in the Earth's Cycles in which I live. Right now, as I type this, I am hearing Crickets, Locusts, Katydids. If I listen closely, I bet I can hear Tree Frogs. These are all signatures of Late Summer. Why would I want to substitute any part of that for a "gray noise" that hums and whirs? I think not.

Air Conditioning comes at a price. Yes, Air Conditioning costs money in fuel and machines, and who knows what else. But when these Resources are used, they are not available to future generations. Many of those Resources are taken from the Earth and deposited in the Sky to become a part of Global Warming. And then we will need more Air Conditioning. We Humans are so smart.

I think that Air Conditioning develops a secondary disease: Sedentary Life Style. We spend most of our time in boxes: cramped work places, homes parked in front of television, malls, cars. When we lived in South Texas years ago, I had a distinct feeling that Humans were running from Air Conditioner to Air Conditioner. The outdoors was an inconvenience that was to be ignored.

I am not sure about this one, but I do wonder about the Health Effects of being in Air Conditioned settings. Some of us know no other. I suppose it is up to each of us to figure this one out. For one, I do know that I "ache more".

I do not sleep well in Air Conditioning. That is a fact that I have tested and retested over many years. The results are always the same. Let me say that again: I do not sleep well in Air Conditioning.

In the last few days, a 6 year old asked me a question: "Do you not have Air Conditioning because you don't have money to pay for it?" I was stunned that one so young would already draw that conclusion. The answer is "No."

We choose not to use Air Conditioning except in those situations when we feel that we absolutely have to have it. We do use fans. I have a fan overhead at this moment. We are conscious of the fact that on rare occasions, our Company may actually have health issues that require it. I do use the Air Conditioner in my car. Otherwise, it seems to be a hot box.

But mostly, we just like the experience of Nature's Gift of Air. And we are getting to be experts on this Little Farm on alternative ways to stay cool.