Well, yeah, Pierre and Hans, I’d rather sweat for a few days than get hit with a big power bill, too.Thing is, since we don’t live in the far off frozen wastelands like you, it’s not “sweating for a few days”; here it would be sweating for a few months. Or practically the whole year in places like Miami, New Orleans, or Houston.
Source: View From The Porch: Heavy Smug Emissions
Reading from Tam about an article from the Washington Post titled Europe to America: Your love of air-conditioning is stupid. She nails them down with a few comparisons of where some cities in the US are located compared to European capitals where people were dropping dead because of the summer heat and their basic lack of window fans. I went ahead and put her retort on a simple graphic for your viewing pleasure. I based it in three North American cities: Ottawa, Nashville and Miami. You may want to click to enlarge.
I lived in Nashville and for about a month and a half, maybe in the summertime, you would use the AC if you weren’t on a budget and had no fans. I was on a budget so I basically used it for the worst 2 weeks. Notice that the same parallel touches Gibraltar, northern Algeria and northern Tunisia ending up in Syria and northern Iraq, not quite what comes to mind when you think mild temperatures. I haven’t been to Ottawa, but from what I gather in the news, it is not the bellows of Hell’s fire, specially when comes winter. Yet, most of the Smug Europeans live farther north of that parallel.
And Miami… sweet Miami. OK, we are a bit blessed that our topography is Nebraska flat with a decent breeze flowing from both the Atlantic and the Gulf… which of course contributes to the frigging humidity that brings the heat indexes to above the hundred in the summer. But what lays at the other end of the parallel? Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Now, ask them highfalutin Eco-Eurotrash to live in any of these countries without as much as a 5,000 BTU window unit and they will call Interpol and send you to the La Hague International Tribunal for attempted crimes against humanity and hurting their feelings. For the Lord of the Dance’s sake, the House of Saud spends half its oil income trying to AC the hell out of their palaces!
Yes, that is 99.5 degrees in the shade next to a lake. That pic was taken August 1st. Hot enough? Even the damned iguanas think so when they come out of their holes and go into the lake to cool off.
I have been in Europe during “Bad” summers. You know what is the worst of an European Summer? To use public transportation. The smell would gag cadaver dogs. Do they have as Eco Friendly policy not to take a frigging shower at least once every 2 weeks?
Sure, we’ll listen to the folks who still use toilet paper made from cardboard and that haven’t mastered the once-a-day shower bit. Reminds me of a comment once made to me many years ago by someone who had returned from vacation in Germany. He said that the Germans were appalled by our violent gun culture. After picking up my jaw, I gently reminded him of this little thing started by the Germans called the Holocaust. Europeans…
I had that happen to me with a young German visitor many moons ago. She turn red and left when I said one little word: Auschwitz.
And what exactly does that young German visitor have with Auschwitz? It’s like blaming US for slavery. I realize people still do that but it’s silly.
Maybe all the bombings and destroyed cities (and yes, i know it’s their own fault for that) created an aversion to weapons. Or not, maybe they’re dirty euro-communists or something. i don’t know.
The thing that really bothers me is your (and in other comments too, actually) attitude towards Europeans. Do you really think it’s fair to put entire Europe into same basket? It’s not just Hans and Pierre, but Luigi, and Jose and Darko, Istvan etc. It’s not one country, it’s a continent full of different cultures and people who, i think, don’t really like each other.
Imagine if i said: “All you Americans are redneck,gun loving hillbillies or starbucks-drinking tofu-eating hippies” or whatever. You wouldn’t take it very kindly would you?
I mean, gun rights people, of all people, are always saying:” don’t judge us by individuals who happened to have a firearm while doing something.
A normal hot summers day in the EU is a cool night in spring or fall in this part of Texas.
My thoughts on what the Eurotrash ecofreaks think of my ac usage tends to be filled with profanities.
I’m with you – and Joe Miller. I live 3 degrees north of you near Cape Canaveral. My latitude runs though the great Libyan and Algerian deserts, too. We get a sea breeze most every day, but I’ve been bike riding on days that would kill every one of those Euro weenies. Regularly.
Let’s not forget that latitude isn’t the only factor behind temperature. The ocean currents have a huge impact on conteniental climates as well…
Yep, look up “thermohaline circulation.”
It does, but you have people in Europe that have allegedly died because it got to 86 degrees at night! (Portugal 2003) That is “Honey, get me a lemonade, I am done mowing the lawn” weather down here.
I’m assuming the person was elderly or had their health compromised in some other way, yes? In which case, such a thing seems perfectly plausible.
People tend to adapt to whatever climate they live in, a drastic change in that climate will have adverse effects. I mean, we’ve all heard the joke about the Texan who dies of frost-bite on a Colorado ski slope… And then scares the crap out of the morgue attendant who goes to retrieve his ashes from the crematorium: “Close the door! You’re letting the cold air in!”
According to Wikipedia, the average temperature in Portugal is 60–66°F in its hotter regions. A sudden 20° spike would probably hit the elderly and otherwise infirm hard.
Slate recently published this article: “Hot and Bothered — Air conditioning isn’t bad for you or even (relatively) for the planet.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/07/air_conditioning_energy_ac_saves_lives_and_causes_less_climate_change_than.single.html
That map really brings just how far south the US is compared to Europe into perspective. They compared DC to Berlin when they really should have compared it to Cairo.
Americans, especially the EU idolizing left-wing types, tend to forget just how provincial the average European actually is. Those who have not actually spent time in the USA have a bizarre ‘head picture’ of the country as being roughly the size of France, with pretty much the same climate.
There’s a reason “Dress for an English Summer” means “Pack a coat and hat”.
I pointed out elsewhere: one of the big reasons Americans spend more on electricity for A/C than for heat — especially compared to Europeans — is the relative difference in climates. Another is the relative commonality of “alternative” heat fuels (e.g. non-electric ones — wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, natural gas, heating oil, etc.) in America. We spend less electricity on heat because we heat with other things, when we need to heat at all.
How funny. That would be the view out my dining room French doors. complete with the same exact thermometer and Gadsden flag, and bay view. The difference is, the Trees on the other side are Spruce, Douglas fir, and alders. Not to mention the boat ramp and short little air strip on the other side. My beach isn’t sand. It’s the kinda knee deep upper bay glop that can trap a man.
It got that warm at my place a couple of weeks ago, 6 miles from the beach just 30 miles south of the 45th parallel on the left coast. It’s 85 here now.4:30 PM.
Even in the Northern tier of states, summer temps are much higher than in Europe. We’ve had many days just this year above 105 (40.6 to those of you who prefer it in French) here in Eastern Washington
I was stationed at Fairchild AFB from ’90-’94 and my son and I were in Spokane for a squadron reunion during the first weekend in August — the highs were ~99-101°F. Of course, that was offset by the night-time temps in the high 50°s and the lack of humidity.