He recently wrote a book, saying people are too dependant on air conditioning and we're losing vital parts of our culture as a result.
He lives in Salina, but Stan Cox has people all over the Country worked up over his theories on air conditioning.
"Everybody has an opinion on it," Cox said.
The Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, and dozens of local radio stations all over the Country have interviewed him about his book, "Losing our cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World and Finding new Ways to Get Through the Summer." In it he describes what he calls an unhealthy obbsession with air conditioning.
"What I tried to do was paint a picture of how much better our world would be if we didn't rely on it so much," said Cox.
He says air conditioning has had devastating environmental, cultural, and health impacts on Americans. Adding to our problems with obesity and allergies.
"We were once so active in the summers. Plenty of socializing on front porches, children playing, but there almost like dead zones now. About the only sound you hear is the humming of compressors and fans of the air conditioners," he said.
Cox doesn't just write about it, he lives it. Stan and his wife Priti, a native of India, have lived without air conditioning for years and instead rely on fans, open windows and vegetation to cool their house.
"That's what I grew up with and in fact I prefer that to air conditioning. I don't like the air conditioning," said Priti.
It gets pretty hot during the summer, and Stan does have central air available in his house, but only chooses to run it one day during the entire summer and that's just to make sure it still works.
"A fan works just as well," Stan said.
Not everyone agrees with his theories. His in-box is flooded with hundreds of emails, responding to articles, calling him names and pointing out "flaws" in his book.
"They are very nasty and politically charged. It did get depressing reading through all those yesterday," Stan said.
Stan said there are just as many if not more supporters. He knows people won't stop using air conditioning like he did and said that's not what he is trying to do, but does want people to be smarter about it.
"I think the more people who live with fresh air the more they will like it," he said.
Additional information:
Stan says just increasing your thermostat won't do any good and in fact can get dangerously hot if that's all you do. He opens all his windows and lets the wind cool his house. He says he saves about $500 a year by not using air conditioning.
Here's a link to his story in the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902341.html
Cox's website www.losingourcool.com
