Mon 8/2 @ 7PM
The atypical heat waves we’ve seen recently in cities such as Portland, Oregon and Seattle, where the moderate climate makes air conditioning relative rare, remind us once against of the battle to ban the refrigerant Freon (CFC) which tore a massive hole in the ozone layer, starting at the dawn of air conditioning in the 1920s. While air conditioning reshaped the country and its population distribution (Houston, Texas, now the country’s fourth city, was practically a frontier outpost in 1920 — it has grown more than 100% by 1930), it also exacerbated global warming increasing the need for air conditioning, a vicious cycle.
But eventually Freon WAS banned in new systems in 2010; it can no longer be made or imported as of 2020. For author Eric Dean Wilson, who teaches climate writing and environmental justice at Queens College in New York, that’s a hopeful sign that we CAN address climate change effectively if we only have the will.
In his new book, After Cooling: On Freon, Global Warming, and the Terrible Cost of Comfort, he tells the story of Freon’s history and science, while looking at the moral aspects of its use as well, examining the impact of factors such as capitalism and racism.
Wilson will be taking part in a virtual program sponsored by the Hudson Library & Historical Society. It’s free but you must register here. Copies of the book will be available for purchase through Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson.
Hudson Library & Historical Society