New Orleans In the second ACORN global action within recent months, reports are already coming in from India and Europe on our Beat the Heat campaign. Some cities in India had to cancel actions due to heavy rains in North India, but there were good events in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Agra, Ghaziabad, and elsewhere. Speaking to the head organizer of ACORN’s affiliate in France yesterday, he lamented that after weeks of record highs, suddenly it was raining there as well, though actions continue to go off as scheduled.
Our campaign in France is focusing on retrofits in social housing to meet the challenges of climate change and the torrid heat waves in this and recent years. I would have thought this was an area where they would be high levels of consensus on the need for change and infrastructure investment, and there is in many countries, at least on the philosophical level. Environmentally, there are disagreements on the role of air conditioning, creating confusing alliances around our members’ concerns.
In France, this issue seems particularly controversial, because it is caught in their political polarization. In a strange bedfellow situation, the Journal reports that the far right party in France has seized on the issue and is arguing that there needs to be air conditioning in public buildings, schools, hospitals across the country to deal with heat extremes. National Rally is even citing the Biden administration’s multi-billion investment in air conditioning schools as part of the infrastructure act, which Trump is now trying to eviscerate. Conservatives in Britain are making a similar case in London to change the rules for air condition in new construction. In Spain, conservatives there are also beating this drum for more A/C. In these cases, the government is resisting because of the environmental impacts of greater spread of air conditioners. In India, the ruling party ministers are tackling the issue by trying to make sure manufactured air conditions are not able to go much below 70 degrees Fahrenheit, arguing that it would save 6% of the energy expended for every degree pushed upward. Jimmy Carter would approve!
In France, the energy minister said, “We should air-condition for vulnerable people to give them a break, but on the other hand we shouldn’t do it everywhere.” Her position is closer to what we have been winning for lower-income tenants in Canadian housing, as well as the retrofit argument Justice Ensemble – ACORN is making in Lyon and Paris. ACORN’s actions in the US are more focused on restoring the LIHEAP funding to help pay heating and cooling bills, which Trump is trying to eliminate, blocking electricity shutoffs in the summer and winter that can be fatal, and restoring protection for outside workers, like those in India, who need more breaks, hydration, and even different schedules to deal with the heat.
I was surprised to read that air conditioning was being attacked for health issues, and not just environmental concerns.
The prospect of U.S.-style air conditioning sends shivers through some Europeans. In France, media outlets often warn that cooling a room to more than 15 degrees Fahrenheit below the outside temperature can cause something called “thermal shock,” resulting in nausea, loss of consciousness and even respiratory arrest. That would be news to Americans who expect indoor temperatures to be cooled to around 75 degrees even when it is near 100 outside.
That’s a new one to me.
There’s a middle ground, but conservatives seem to understand this is a popular issue. Certainly, our members want better cooling solutions around the world. This shouldn’t be a cultural issue or a political one, but for more liberal and left politicians and parties, this is not the hill to die on. There are progressive solutions that integrate air conditioning responsibility, and we all to advocate for them. Dealing with heat extremes caused by climate change can’t be a neoliberal solution, where the rich and well-to-do are comfortable, while the rest of us are drenched in sweat or passing out on the curbs of our cities.