Wall Street Journal, In Praise of Open Windows, by Tax Prof Shari Motro (Richmond):

Last spring, the Obamas planted a White House vegetable garden. This year, why not follow up by cutting the air conditioning and opening the windows? They might also set a temperature range for the White House within which neither artificial heating nor cooling is used—recognizing that for much of the spring and fall what nature provides simply cannot be improved.

I'm no fan of indoor refrigeration even in summer. I realize I'm in the minority. Nevertheless, year-round climate control is surely not what most people want. During these glorious weeks, I cannot believe the office and retail workers who crowd every outdoor café and park bench at lunchtime appreciate returning to their airtight posts. I cannot believe the guests of most major hotels prefer stale recycled air over an April breeze. I cannot believe the bedridden sick and elderly prefer the drone of forced air to the calls of nesting birds. Novelist Henry Miller called the United States the "air-conditioned nightmare." He had a point.