In the Day
When I was a kid back in the 1950’s, most homes in Cincinnati weren’t air conditioned. We were lucky; our house in Clifton (just north of the University) had a giant attic fan that would pull air throughout the house. In the summer we always had that fan going, the windows open, and other smaller fans as well. But Cincinnati is a “river city”. Like sister cities Louisville and St. Louis, the river valley holds the heat and humidity. Eighty degrees feels oppressive because of the high humidity. And the “dog days” of ninety-plus degrees August were miserable.
There was always the “fallback” position – the Esquire Theater. A few blocks away in the Clifton business district on Ludlow Avenue, there was the old movie theater with that marvel of modern living, air conditioning. When the August heat got too much to bear, Mom would walk us up Clifton Avenue to Ludlow and we would go watch the matinee at the theater. I can’t say I really remember the movies, though there were always cartoon features at the beginning or end. It was the age of Disney – Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Donald.
And on those really hot days the movie was followed by Graeter’s ice cream, only a couple of doors down the way. For me – a chocolate mint soda (made from mint ice cream with chocolate syrup, not chocolate with mint syrup) would fully cool me down. Then it was the hike back up Clifton to home.
Sure that’s the old, “In my day we walked to school in three feet of snow, uphill, both ways” kind of story. But it’s true.
Heat Wave
Today there’s no need for the Esquire to Graeter’s expedition just to get cooled down. I’m sure you can still find a house in Cincinnati, or here in Pataskala, without air conditioning – but there are very few. Regardless of the outside air temperature (it’s already 83° at 10am today) it’s a cool 65° here in the house. Sure we like it cool – but the dogs are the thing. They, and especially our eldest dog Buddy, don’t tolerate heat. Even at 65° we are still chasing Buddy out of the bathtub – the coolest place he can find.
But there are other parts of the nation where air conditioning is still considered a luxury. More than twenty years ago, I took a group of track athletes to the Northwest for a series of meets. We ran the National meet in Seattle during a critical heatwave. The temperature was pushing 90°, and Seattle was miserable. The track officials debated changing the schedule to avoid the heat, running earlier and later. The TV and radio were full of messages to take care in the heat, drink plenty of fluids, or get out in the water all around the Seattle area.
To us “mid-westerners” 90° wasn’t a big deal. It was a lot less humid than the same temperature we’d been practicing in back home. But, with many homes unairconditioned and folks unaccustomed, it was a crisis.
Global Warning
So what the Hell are they doing about 110°?
Seattle, Portland, all of the “cool Northwest” places are caught in a massive heatwave. If you need to gain a grasp of global warming, here you go. It’s not just that it’s hotter than it’s ever been before (it is). It’s that weather anomalies, from storms to droughts, heatwaves to blizzards, are becoming so much more common. The “world” doesn’t change overnight – but the world is changing, and the evidence is right before our eyes. Here’s something to consider. Lytton, British Columbia, Canada is located north of the entire continental United States. Monday, they set a national heat record – hottest ever in the recorded history of Canada. It hit 47.9° in Lytton on Monday. Oh – wait – that’s Celsius. 47.9° Celsius is 118° Fahrenheit – in Canada. You can cook that Canadian bacon right there on the sidewalk – fast!
Our Lying Eyes
Sure it topped 100° in Lytton once before – in 1941. And those who deny global warming will cling to that sweaty fact – “It’s just a freak heatwave, like back in ’41”. But if you are keeping track of what’s happening in the world, those “freaks” are getting more and more consistent. In fact, “freak weather” is now the norm. Ask the drought plagued folks of California, or the constantly flooded folks in Houston, Texas. And while we’re on Texas, what about the freeze that “broke” the Texas energy grid last winter. Just another “freak”, right?
In our political divided nation, it’s always difficult to get something done. We couldn’t even agree on how to combat a world pandemic. But this looming crisis in our world is growing critical. The time to “dodge” permanent climate change is growing short. And, like a lot of other “facts” today, the evidence is right before our eyes.
We just have to believe them.
