WE ARE SINNERS, WE ARE SINNERS!  LISTEN UP! – AT 10:58 P.M. ET:  Our sinfulness is clear and obvious.  Every time, and I mean EVERY time you turn on that air conditioner, to live your life of sloth and luxury, you are sinning.  You must stop.  Right now.  WaPo says so:

Washington didn't grind to a sweaty halt last week under triple-digit temperatures. People didn't even slow down. Instead, the three-day, 100-plus-degree, record-shattering heat wave prompted Washingtonians to crank up their favorite humidity-reducing, electricity-bill-busting, fluorocarbon-filled appliance: the air conditioner.

Miserable, rotten swine.

This isn't smart. In a country that's among the world's highest greenhouse-gas emitters, air conditioning is one of the worst power-guzzlers. The energy required to air-condition American homes and retail spaces has doubled since the early 1990s. Turning buildings into refrigerators burns fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases, which raises global temperatures, which creates a need for -- you guessed it -- more air-conditioning.

We are fools.  Fools! 

A.C.'s obvious public-health benefits during severe heat waves do not justify its lavish use in everyday life for months on end. Less than half a century ago, America thrived with only the spottiest use of air conditioning. It could again. While central air will always be needed in facilities such as hospitals, archives and cooling centers for those who are vulnerable to heat, what would an otherwise A.C.-free Washington look like?

We are talking Paradise.  Believe it!  Imagine it!  We forgive you, sinners!

In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again. Three-digit temperatures prompt siestas. Code-orange days mean offices are closed. Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings -- common in pre-air-conditioned America -- return.

Let us go back to those wonderful days.  Drip, children.  Drip with sweat.  Love those fainting spells.

Heat stroke?  We love it, love it.

July 12, 2010