Andrew Dessler Adaptation as a Joke

Motoko Rich and Josephine de La Bruyère “Many Italians Long Resisted Air-Conditioning. Then Europe Got Hotter,” New York Times (September 4, 2026)

Amid record-breaking temperatures on the continent, households and businesses in Italy are increasingly installing cooling units.

The proportion of households in Italy that have installed air-conditioning grew to 56 percent in 2024, the last year for which data is available, from just under 30 percent in 2013, according to government statistics.

The rise in air-conditioning in Italy also reflects the units’ increasing affordability.

“It used to be a luxury product,” said Vincenzo Principato, 52, owner of an electronics shop in Agrigento. Now, an influx of Chinese-made units has helped to lower the average cost of a fuel-efficient air-conditioner to less than $350, Mr.…

“‘For years, the clean tech world had a lot of idealistic founders who felt that the rules of capitalism had changed, that politics would entirely reorient itself around stopping carbon dioxide emissions, and that’s how we were going to make money,’ said Cody Finke, the founder of a start-up called Brimstone. “And I think that was wishful thinking.’”

Brad Plumer, “How Clean Energy Firms Are Trying to Survive the Trump Era.” New York Times (March 28, 2026). Subtitle: “Offshore wind is out. Geothermal power is in. And many climate technology start-ups are looking for ways to carry on without federal backing.”

Clean energy isn’t dead in the Trump era. But it does look different these days.

Since returning to office, President Trump has dismantled federal efforts to fight climate change and vowed to stop new wind turbines from going up.…