Tamara Harbar
Going Green
Day 4 - 11 p.m.: I’m lying in bed on thin cotton sheets, windows wide open, trying to catch a cross-breeze. The ceiling fan whirs. The first few days of the heat wave I just closed up the house in the day and opened up at night to let in the cool breezes. That worked great. But the weather report said the temperature tonight would stay at 25. My neighbours’ air conditioners hum. I try to remember why I don’t have air conditioning? Oh, right, the environment. Nanticoke Generating Station. Air pollution. Global warming. I can vouch for it being hot enough already.

Day 5 - 9 a.m.: I pull on a loose billowy dress that creates its own breeze every time I move. If loose cover-ups are good enough for Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia, they’re good enough for me. I perform my ritual of closing all the doors and windows and pulling the drapes and blinds. Good thing we installed a black-out blind on that east window and planted that tree on our south-facing lawn when we moved in. This 20-foot-tall beauty now shades the front of our house, while our neighbour swears by his climbing vine on a trellis and a bamboo blind.

Day 5 - 11 a.m.: I check the fridge for cooling foods. No slaving over a hot stove or heavy “warm-me-up” foods today. Just thinking about a burger or pizza dripping with cheese breaks me out in a sweat. Looks like I need radishes, lemons, limes, bananas, watermelon, lettuce, bok choy, and cucumbers. Is that why we have that expression “as cool as a cucumber”? I’ll blend a shake with soymilk, yogurt, bananas, strawberries and ice cubes. I’ll eat that leftover tabbouleh cold, toss sliced cucumbers and radishes in a vinegar-and-dill dressing and chop some watermelon for snacking on. Gee, I’ll be in an air-conditioned grocery store for awhile. Don’t I have to return some library books today, too?

Day 5 - 11 p.m.: Hot air rises so I sleep downstairs on the pull-out couch under the ceiling fan. If only I had a finished basement….

Day 6 - 9 a.m.: Temperatures are rising, but there ain’t no sweat on me. After my cool-water shower, I wet a bandana with cold water, squeeze out excess moisture, and wear it around my neck. Then I remember a trick from my camping days and dab a cold cloth on my pulse points – wrists, inside the elbows, back of the knees, the neck. Keeping my hair wet helps, too. I munch on frozen blueberries. Heat wave? What heat wave?

Day 6 - 11 p.m.: I remember another trick. I lightly spritz the sheets with cold water before lying down. And myself. Ahhhh…. Maybe tomorrow I’ll borrow some kids and take them to a splash-pad. And supervise them verrrry closely.

Day 7 - The plates in the kitchen cupboards feel warm to the touch. Gotta get that wall insulated someday. And maybe look into a turbine ventilator for the roof, awnings for the upstairs windows and a dehumidifier, too. I fill a big mixing bowl with ice cubes, then set up the fan to blow across it. Ha! Take that!

Day 8 - I win! The weather breaks before I do! Wave this heat good-bye!

Web Peek of the Week:
www.wikihow.com/Cool-Yourself-Without-Air-Conditioning