Pope Francis on air conditioning

Many people were surprised, some even outraged (in these parts of the world where SIN brings other things to mind) when His Holiness singled out air conditioning as a sin for our times in his recent Encyclical Letter, Laudati Si.  Here is what he had to say:

“People may well have a growing ecological sensitivity but it has not succeeded in changing their harmful habits of consumption which, rather than decreasing, appear to be growing all the more. A simple example is the increasing use and power of air-conditioning. The markets, which immediately benefit from sales, stimulate ever greater demand. An outsider looking at our world would be amazed at such behavior, which at times appears self-destructive.”

Many papal critics harped on the idea that air conditioning is a necessity for "modern life" in the tropics. I suspect that most of the criticism came from the northern latitudes or tropical-based expats, and refers to themselves, not the locals. Perhaps  experienced equatorial native views, along the lines of The Thai King's "sufficiency economy", which call for restraint, a middle way, and mindfulness of behavior, including in hot weather, are a fair but yet unappreciated response in Western countries to these criticisms of the pope's advice and teaching. I suspect that contemporary US ideas on what is really "necessary" for life will be soon much influenced by Francis' fresh new views from the southern latitudes, which remind me of the idea of quality v. quantity that were suggested by one of my favorite books, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, many years ago.