This week in HOTLINE we showcased self-righteous leftists who oppose the global spread of air conditioning because it could reduce the “screaming urgency to tackle the collective issue of a world on fire.”

A HOTLINE reader points out that far from being a menace, air conditioning has been a boon to humanity. The founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, called it “one of the signal inventions of history.” That’s because the increase in productivity and cognitive ability it allows is a big reason sultry Singapore is such an economic success story today.

It has also been a factor in the boom in the southern states in America.

AC also saves lives. Between 2000 and 2019, an average of 83,000 western Europeans lost their lives every year as a result of extreme heat, compared with just 20,000 North Americans. We combat extreme heat by blasting the AC – a luxury many Europeans lacked.

Britain and France still restrict the use of air conditioning.

Just look at the graphs comparing temperatures and deaths between several European and U.S. cities.

The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based intergovernmental group of 44 countries, reports that in 2021, only 15% of the 3.5 billion people in hot climates have air conditioning. It concludes that “Lack of access to indoor cooling puts much of the global population at high risk for heat stress, adversely affecting thermal comfort, labour productivity, and human health.”

Air conditioning saves lives. Climate change fanatics cost lives.