It’s a conundrum. The world is hot so we need air conditioning, which causes the world to get hotter so we need still more air conditioning.
In some ways, this is comforting. Not in the way that a cool house in summer is comforting, but in a more abstract way. Because if science and engineering can solve this problem, it would go a long way towards solving the climate issue.
The worse news? We’re a long way from solving anything.
Although Americans are becoming more knowledgable and conscientious about reducing their energy consumption and carbon footprint, the real problem lies with developing nations. If you are the head of a family in Mexico, Brazil, India, China or Indonesia, you are much less concerned with global warming than with keeping your family safe, fed and comfortable. The American standard of living— complete with a well-stocked refrigerator, two cars in the garage, and a 4,000-sf home with AC— is the goal of the middle class in these countries.
Urban Heat Islands
Cities are major ovens. For instance, Miami is on average 17 degrees warmer than the surrounding rural area. [http://www.climatecentral.org/news/urban-heat-islands-threaten-u.s.-health-17919] Miami is also predicted to be among the worst-hit by rising seas, with billions of property already in the flood zone.
But climate experts are more worried about sprawling areas such as Beijing or Mexico City. Are there ways to mitigate the heat that’s rising from these mega-cities? Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is predicted to reach a tipping point, with temperatures not seen in 150 years, by 2034, just 20 years from now. At that point, how many of its 19 million-plus residents (projected 24 million in five years, by 2020) will be able to tolerate the situation— with or without air conditioning?
Actually, there are proposals involving strategic placement of garden plants and trees, and cluster building. These ideas sound simplistic and insignificant. But many folks find them less scary than other ideas such as spraying particles of aluminum into the atmosphere to trap sunlight just above the Earth. [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032113008460]
This wacky proposal is called Solar Radiation Management, among other names. It would dim the sunlight reaching the planet, just as you lower the light intensity on a lamp with a dimmer, by spraying a cloud of chemicals into the sky.
Skeptics wonder whether this blanket would eventually break open and blast the earth with accumulated heat. And what would be the effect on Earthlings, both plant and animal, of an indefinite era of decreased sunlight? (After all, we still haven’t been able to duplicate photosynthesis, which is the basis for life on Earth.) So maybe plants do figure in the answer.
If so inspired, you could contact your local county extension office or university and ask about plants to combat climate change.
Here’s a website called Florida-Friendly Landscaping: http://floridayards.org/fyplants/ Here’s one about shade plants for the Atlanta area: http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension/dekalb/documents/ShadePlantsfortheAtlantaArea.pdf
Sorry, we haven’t yet found one for Mumbai.