A strict no-air-conditioning ban was enforced for 87,000 Taiwanese students taking the college entrance examinations this month despite temperatures in many areas reaching 34 to 36 degrees Celsius.

Although this long-term practice is being promoted as a pragmatic means to ensure fairness, since air conditioning is not available at all exam locations, rather than for environmental reasons, it nevertheless offers a good opportunity for the country to reconsider its addiction to air conditioning.

If students can manage without A/C in the heat of examinations, could not the rest of the population go cold turkey once in a while?  If not 'Off,' then 'Down,' since air conditioners consume energy and contribute to climate change in proportion to each degree they are set below ambient temperature.

Vehicle A/C systems can be a cause of sinusitis in some people, while poorly maintained air conditioning may lead to the proliferation of micro-organisms such as Legionella pneumophila, the cause of Legionnaires' disease. 

The problem with new high-tech machines is that they present a sizable contribution to man-made climate change. Cooling agents such as CFCs and their modern replacements are greenhouse gases with far more global-warming potential than carbon dioxide should they leak into the atmosphere.

It is everyone's responsibility to minimize his or her own contribution to the problem.

 

ban:禁令；禁止
pragmatic:務實的，實用的
addiction：成癮；入迷
proportion：比例；比率
ambient：周遭的，環繞的
proliferation：（生物）增殖；激增，擴散
to go cold turkey：戒除壞習慣