As a resident of New York and Manhattan, you will know all too well that the summer and winter temperatures can get be extremely hard to bear! Hopefully, you will have your heating and cooling system installed to enable you to cope with the extreme fluctuation in seasonal temperatures, but do you think of your system as a luxury or a necessity?
Could you manage if you were thrust back into the 19th century when NYC residents had no choice but to either make do deal with being either sweating hot or shivering at the knees?
Back in 1902, when Willis Carrier invented modern air conditioning, staying cool still remained a luxurious treat for those who could afford it. It took decades for the phenomenon to become a household name, and even up into the 1970s, people would still be incredibly impressed if a movie theater or a hotel in NYC had installed an AC unit. Skip a few decades later, and now the New York media is questioning whether air conditioning should be classed with the same kind of importance as clean water or health insurance, i.e, a basic human right.
So what do you think? Could you live without air conditioning? If so, what would your great ideas be to cool down in New York? Let us know your comments!