SCIENCE sciencemag.org 9 JULY 2021 • VOL 373 ISSUE 6551 169PHOTO: LHB PHOTO/ALAMY STOCK PHOTOI
n After Cooling, Eric Dean Wilson uses
the history of mechanical cooling and
the associated creation of comfort as a
commodity to tell a tale of control, op-
pression, and destruction. The book is
as much sociopolitical commentary as
history of science.
Wilson weaves together the story of the
invention of mechanical cooling and Freon—
the trademarked name for chlorofluorocar-
bon (CFC) refrigerants—with recollections
from a recent road trip with a friend, Sam,
whose job it is to find, purchase, and ar-
range for the destruction of CFCs. The catch?
Almost all the sellers are hostile to climate
considerations and the concept of destroying
something useful. Sam must win the trust of
the sellers without revealing that the ozone-
depleting super greenhouse gas chemicals
will be eliminated.
Readers should be aware that this his-
tory is told from a distinctly American
perspective, excluding from discussion,
for example, former Singapore prime min-
ister Lee Kuan Yew’s assertion that air
conditioning played a critical role in im-
proving the productivity of the country’s
civil service ( 1 ). Wilson digs deeply into
the linkages between Western desire for
material comfort and racial oppression, in-
cluding critiques of capitalism and profit-
seeking industry. Like others before him,
he blames air conditioning for turning
Americans inward, away from porches and
community, thus contributing to the na-
tion’s alienation and insularity. Wilson’s
personal experiences and thinking, which
manifest, at times, in witty parentheticals,
are a frequent reminder that there is no
pretense of objectivity in this critique.
Wilson links air conditioning in cars
and homes to Americans’ willful ignorance
with regard to environmental destruction
and the oppression and suffering of others,
arguing that the technology impairs our
ability to see our interconnectedness. And
while he condemns systems of oppression
and purveyors of pseudoscientific bigotry,
he displays an unanticipated empathy to-ward General Motors engineer Thomas
Midgley Jr., the “two-time environmental
loser” who invented both the leaded gaso-
line that poisoned millions and the CFCs
that almost destroyed the ozone layer and
destabilized the climate. Rather than dwell
on Midgley’s denial of the known toxicity of
lead, Wilson delves into the engineer’s fear
of obsolescence, his sudden physical paraly-
sis from polio, and his subsequent suicide.
In doing so, however, Wilson misses an
opportunity to describe how close humanity
came to calamity. Midgley originally iden-
tified eight elements, including fluorine,
chlorine, and bromine, as potential candi-
dates for refrigerants ( 2 ). In his 1995 Nobelacceptance speech, Paul Crutzen noted that
if bromine compounds had been chosen,
or if chlorine had behaved more like bro-
mine in the stratosphere, “we would have
been faced with a catastrophic ozone hole
everywhere and at all seasons during the
1970s.” “Mankind has been extremely lucky,”
he concluded ( 3 ).
Wilson dutifully describes the incredible
achievement of the 1987 Montreal Proto-
col on Substances That Deplete the Ozone
Layer, which set the foundation for the
phaseout of CFCs and the subsequent re-
covery of the ozone layer. He criticizes the
protocol, however, for limiting its purview
to the chemicals and “simple technological
fix without addressing any of the underly-ing, psychosocial errors,” specifically “the
material conditions for insularity.”
One aspect of air conditioning that Wil-
son fails to discuss is how heat pumps—es-
sentially, air conditioners run in reverse—are
now considered by many to be critical to de-
carbonizing the heating of buildings. Winter
heating goes beyond luxury in most of the
United States. One is left to wonder whether
the same piece of equipment that uses elec-
tricity and refrigerants to provide thermal
comfort becomes less of a symbol and symp-
tom of society’s ills when used for heating.
While making air conditioners more en-
ergy efficient and using climate-friendly
refrigerants are jointly one of the biggestclimate mitigation opportunities available
today, such technology fixes do not alone
address the need to rethink how we design,
build, and live in our cities to achieve greater
environmental and social sustainability. Af-
ter Cooling warns of the unintended physical,
social, and cultural consequences of seeking
to make life more comfortable, easier, and
more convenient, urging readers to reflect
not just on what might be gained from new
technologies but also what might be lost. jREFERENCES AND NOTES- L. K. Yew, New Perspect. Q. 26 , 111 (2009).
- T. Midgley, J. Soc. Chem. Industry 56 , 133 (1937).
- P. J. Crutzen, “My Life with O 3 , NOx and Other YZOxs ,”
Nobel Lecture, 8 December 1995.
10.1126/science.abj1417
SCIENCE AND SOCIETYBy Gabrielle DreyfusStepping out of the comfort zone
A writer grapples with the environmental and social
costs of mechanical cooling
After Cooling: On Freon,
Global Warming, and the
Terrible Cost of Comfort
Eric Dean Wilson
Simon and Schuster,- 480 pp.
Air conditioning has amplified America’s insularity and willful disregard for the environment, argues Wilson.The reviewer is at the Institute for Governance and
Sustainable Development, Washington, DC 20007, USA.
Email: [email protected]INSIGHTS0709Books.indd 169 7/1/21 5:31 PM