One Hundred Years of Cool

In the midst of a sizzling summer, here's a short piece (3:10) on Weekend Edition Sunday (8/6/2006) celebrating 100 years of air conditioning--an interview with Deborah Hawkins, Chairman of the Air Conditioner and Refrigeration Institute. There's also a short, opening segment with Gail Cooper, author of Air-conditioning America: Engineers and the Controlled Environment, 1900-1960, broadcast last Friday on Boston's WBUR. Cooper briefly discusses traditional, old-fashioned ways people used to beat the summer heat, including summer cabins. Swimming surely was another way, as was summer drinks, foods, and clothes. Students might have their own thoughts on life without air conditioning, even though some may never have known such a world. NPR has a whole page on summer diversions, including these two delightful pieces by Gilliam Kohl on lemonade stands (3:39) and Bonny Wolf on jello molds (2:55). Everyone has something to add on summer foods or other ways of coping with the heat.

In the interview with Cooper, there's a brief discussion of (hard to believe) the possible negative consequences of air conditioning, focusing on the possible social, not environmental, consequences. Here's an article, How Air Conditioning Changed America, that might frames the issue.