Some people say that environmentalist are all talk, they’ll probably go home and do like everyone else, sleep on a couch. turn on the iphone and use the ac, enjoy the capital goods as some would say. yep, they’re right. were not doing enough for the environment. I’m going to try something new.
It’s fucking hot where I live. at certain times my room can feel like a microwave if I don’t use air conditioning. but it probably uses fossil fuel to power this thing. so, I’m going to unplug it for two weeks and see what happens.
I’m inclined to state that this is a bad idea. If it gets very hot in your region, you will be putting your own livelihood at risk in exchange for little to no positive change regarding the environment. The world needs people with your consideration for the environment, alive and healthy.
I would seek more productive ways to reduce fossil fuel consumption in your area. Find ways to network with local environmentalists and/or eco-conscious individuals and see what pressure you can put on your electricity providers. Encourage the use of rideshares in your community. Join a bicycle coalition and become part of their outreach team. Show people ways to reduce their footprint, keep the fight (and yourself) alive.
I know it’s tempting to fall into the feeling of hopelessness and believing that no real progress can be made within the system, but it’s difficult/impossible to fundamentally change anything by suffering alone.
edit: I’m not saying that you shouldn’t ever let yourself experience discomfort for the sake of eco-activism. I’m just recommending that you don’t throw your well-being/life away just because some capitalists call you a hypocrite. You’d just be doing them a favor.
Calm down. Trust me, I wouldn’t die just because of a little bit of sweat.
it gets hot. but It doesn’t change the fact that it still uses fossil fuel. I’d rather experience discomfort than to be called a hypocrite. I’ll get used to it after a while. and It’s not like I’m planning to suffer alone either.
thanks for your concern though. I appreciate it.
I’m calm. However, you seem to describe yourself as living in what I and most others would call extreme heat, which for most individuals—if not protected against—can in fact lead to serious health concerns. Also, most modern architecture is built with the usage of internal climate-control in mind and doesn’t passively dissapate heat very well, leading to longer exposure.
At any rate, I’m sure you understand the risks and I probably don’t need to explain it to you. I mainly offer this as a perspective to others who come across this thread in the future to consider.
Okay, I’m listening. from what you and other’s concern now I’m considering other methods of cooling. Thanks, I didn’t know it was that serious.
I will echo that I don’t recommend it if where you live is hot enough that AC is seen as required, which from your comments it seems to be, and it’s better to find other ways of reducing your impact. However, if you’re dead set on trying it as your other comments suggest, keep a very close eye on temperature and how your own body is reacting, research the symptoms of heat stroke and overheating (do this well before you experience them so you’re prepared) and seek medical help if necessary. Drink lots of water, and find as many alternative ways to cool yourself as possible.
Heat stroke is no joke, and you can get brain damage or die from it in the worst case.
(This video, this, and this one are pretty short and two of them are old, but might have some useful tips for you). You might know these already, but some of the tips in the videos include:
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For the love of god drink water! Watch your water intake and drink regularly even if you’re not thirsty. If you’re on a fluid restrictive diet, talk to your doctor about this whole thing first!
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Avoid alcohol, caffeine, sugar, as these will dehydrate you
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Wet your clothing and let evaporative cooling do its thing, and spray cool water on your body. Tie fabric soaked with cold water around your neck and wrists, as those areas can spread the cooling effect to the rest of your body.
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Use linen sheets which are cooler. Try putting your sheets and pillowcases in the freezer before you sleep.
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Avoid proteins like meat, or any other food that will increase your metabolic rate. Metabolism = heat and water loss.
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The hottest part of the day is typically 11AM to 4PM (16:00), try going to somewhere with air conditioning during those times.
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Avoid physical labour, if you must, do those in an air conditioned place or at night. Like how a fennec fox only leaves its underground den at night to avoid the worst of the desert heat.
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Take warm showers which will tell your body to cool off
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Draw in cool air at night: Open a window in the room you most want to cool, and set up a fan pointed out a window at the opposite side of the house.
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If you have a basement, it tends to be cooler than the rest of the house. Use it to your advantage by hanging out down there or using a fan to draw the cooler air up.
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Close windows during the day as soon as the outside temperature is above the indoor temperature. Block out sunlight too.
Thank you so much! I needed this info.
Please do more research on this on your own! You absolutely need to be prepared, otherwise you run a higher risk of harming yourself.
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You could try cooling only your body instead of cooling down the whole room. A solar panel + powerbank + portable (battery powered) usb fan could be a good solution for this. Combined with the other forementioned tipps it should be even more effective.
I don’t have a portable solar panel rn. but I’ll consider it
I’ve heard you can cool a room down by opening the window and hanging a wet towel in it. Never tried it myself though.
What you’re describing is the concept of evaporative cooling.
interesting. it takes less electricity than AC, non at all possibly?
None at all unless you wish to enhance it’s effectiveness.
For more in this vein you can take a look at dessicant-based air-conditioning. Here’s a paper (pop the doi.org url into Sci-Hub to get the pdf) on the topic, and a video demonstrating it’s effectiveness. The future of air-conditioning could be bright!
Just for fun, I heard talk of phase change materials being incorporated into furniture a few years ago. I haven’t heard anything since but it seems like a promising passive system for the future https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-change_material
Where I live, if I turned off my AC I would die
Same, man. you live in the equator?
Nah I live in southeast US so subtropics. Maybe exaggerating, but I have no tolerance for hot, humid weather.
Considered moving then? Seems like a bad combination.
Actually, depending on what work I can find, I want to move somewhere else this year
That’s great. It is definitely on all of us to take responsibility for what we do in our personal lives and it will be an interesting experiment. You can always look into who is generating your power - maybe it is fully renewable already. If not, you can push on them to make responsible decisions so that you aren’t left in the position of making the choice between a livable temperature and contributing to a climate catastrophe. In the meantime let us know how it goes!
Yeah, Our electricity provider still mostly use coal to fuel electricity, renewable energy is hard to get by here. personally I think It’s easier to start with people instead of the government or even companies since I’m just one small person.
It is definitely easier to start with individual change, but then you also limit your impact. There is also a narrative being pushed that if we allow personal accounability and focus on education people will change their habits and this will save the world. That method of change hasn’t been working, and it’s time for governments and corps to show some responsibility.
The easiest thing I do that is most effective in my area is to write a letter (yep, on paper) every month to my most local representative who has any say in the decisions. I’m not saying you should or that that’s the best way for your situation, just trying to throw out something that is actionable and fairly easy. How to make mega corps act responsibily? I am open to any suggestions.
How to make mega corps act responsibily? I am open to any suggestions.
We have just scare them a little bit. in my opinion.
First we have to garner people who are motivated to change the world, environmentalist from socialist, anarchist, and also the general people. etc. then form a community organization to start our revolution. we have to somehow remove corporate control over people (i.e. social media and also television). so they don’t have control over what people think, brainwash us. we should alternate to social media like from the Fediverse where people have their own control. I don’t want to have constant propaganda feeding onto us.
After that, we can focus working on other things against corporations;
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Create eco activities within our community. work on composting, helping people in need for food, in activism we can also sell bags / foldable water bottles / foldable lunchboxes from recycled materials to push people to use it for food takeaways. etc.
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It’s time for Free Software to rise. we should make a way to monetize Gnu Public License (GPL) Software. We don’t really have a platform to sell applications/donate our developers directly. but, we can make software platform from pacman, aptitude, etc. because open source needs funding more than ever.
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Push developers to create an open platform for ecommerce and push eco-friendly shops. we direly need it. I would also suggest using a federated protocol too.
etc.
All of these related things that can create a great environment for a revolution, we can put it all in one handbook; for people to join us, and to start contributing to society.
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You’re going to lose your hair
For what?
