In 2005, Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan did something remarkable: he went without a tie. This is unheard of in a country where strict dress codes are enforced, even when it’s forty degrees outside. Starting today, the Prime Minister announced, Japanese people will be able to go to work in short sleeves and without a tie.
It was an attempt to avoid power cuts when air conditioners worked overtime on hot days. It’s a problem that is occurring in more and more places around the world, as temperatures rise and people turn to the anti-heat remedy: air conditioning.
However, we can cope with the heat much better than we think, says Lenneke Kuijer, an industrial designer at TU Eindhoven, in the Climate Issue podcast. She investigated how we can keep cool in the Netherlands without air conditioning. However, the offices and schools where we spend the day often do not help.
The climate crisis, the energy crisis, the nitrogen crisis: they may get you down, but not us. Each week we tackle one question, as part of the bigger picture: a planet that will last a few more millennia, with people on it: how will we get there? Nienke Zoetbrood, Cecilia Adorée and Sanne Toebes bring you to the climate question.
