A CBC online news feed article (in the “Science” section, no less) entitled Why Air Conditioners Can Be a Problematic Solution to Extreme Heat (1) reported the startling news from Statistics Canada that household air conditioning can be one of the “most effective adaptation strategies to reduce heat-related mortality and morbidity,” but that – surprise, surprise – this is not sustainable because air conditioning use contributes to global heating!
Well, blow me down!! Who could have seen that coming??
In a perhaps related article, the news feed reported the story – one that probably should be filed under the category of We Are All Doomed – of a father and son who drove all the way from Virginia to Niagara Falls, Ontario, in their vintage army jeep, in order to buy forty bags of Lay’s Ketchup Chips, which they love and are not available in the U.S.A. Depending on how you go, and your starting point in Virginia, that is about 530 – 690 miles (853 – 1111 kilometers). Let’s choose a mid-number, say 600 miles, and very generously allow the aforementioned vintage army jeep twenty miles per American gallon. That’s sixty gallons, round trip.
At twenty pounds per gallon, that is 1200 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere, in order to obtain these ketchup chips.
Naturally, I hate to be critical — but better get an air conditioner, it is gonna get hot. The chips are probably bad for their health, too. Anyway, I prefer the salt and vinegar variety.
(1) Chung, Emily. Why Air Conditioners Can Be a Problematic Solution to Extreme Heat. CBC News. July 24, 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/air-conditioners-sustainability-heat-1.6914054
(2) Hristova, Bobby. Father and Son Drive for 2 Days from Virginia to Niagara Falls to Load Up on Ketchup Chips. CBC News. July 24, 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/father-son-road-trip-ketchup-chips-1.6913941