Thursday, May 6, 2010

Thoughtful Thursday

It's really hot. It's so hot, even I think it's hot. Normally, I'm the guy who thinks that it should be 90 degrees and humid every day of the year. But the thermostat in my house says that it's about 80 degrees right now and it feels really hot.

What is heat anyways? Is it the absence of cold? Is it particles moving fast? Is it something you get from the oven?

Whatever it is, there's definitely too much of it in my room right now. The sun has already set, but all day it was raining heat. My laptop gives off a ton of heat; even my own body gives off more heat than I can bear right now.

I could go to the freezer, of course, and get some ice cubes. They would be really cold and I think that'd feel nice. But how do you make ice cubes? You plug in the freezer to an outlet, and electricity comes from the power plant, which is probably burning oil, gas, or coal. In order to get this cold ice cube, a whole lot of heat has to be given off.

The same is true of the air conditioner, which also uses electricity. And yet I turn on the air conditioner and put ice cubes in my drink, all for the sake of getting rid of heat.

Would I die without air conditioning and ice cubes? No way. But I use them anyway despite the fact that I'm contributing to pollution and all the other bad things that come from the overconsumption of resources. All for the sake of comfort, which apparently is more valuable than the economy and the environment.

Think about it.

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