It's undeniable that the climate was much hotter at times before we were here. It's undeniable that it has been much cooler at times before we were here. It's just as undeniable that whether we're here or not, this planet is going to get much hotter. And cooler. How much effort is being put into dealing with inevitability, as opposed to attempting to forestall it? As far as chemical sensitivities, I have a strange one. I used to do hazmat work, and have worked with some truly nasty stuff, about as bad as it gets without going nuclear. But one of the less hazardous and more comfortable jobs was packing up chemicals for shipment to a treatment facility. A place that used chemicals closed down, left a bunch of stuff the landlord wants gone, etc. One economic fact of the business is that a waste stream consisting of a single contaminant is cheaper to dispose than one containing several similar, but mixed contaminants. Many chlorinated solvents smell pretty much the same to most people, but my discerning nose allowed me to reliably pick out individual compounds. I would carefully open unlabeled bottles or jars and fan my hand over it, bringing a bit of scent my way, and then segregate each one into a pure stream. But now I find that I'm very sensitive to one in particular, perchloroethylene. It might not be an issue, except that perc is better known as dry cleaning fluid. If I walk into a dry cleaner and have to stand in line I walk back out, because I start feeling lightheaded almost immediately. I generally need to sit in my car a couple minutes breathing deeply to be able to drive afterwards. On the bright side, it's cheaper than booze!

I get that totally. I rarely by anything dryclean only and when I have something dry cleaned it hangs in the garage.

How all our threads seem to be turning so divisive and controversial is beyond me. However, like our immediate environment, it is within our power to make a coarse correction (when necessary). I come here to NOT hear the news channel...

The forum is just a snapshot of the country at large re divisiveness.

I agree and just said the same to my husband. However, that doesnt mean we can't rise above that. I'm sure you taught your children that just because everyone else does it isn't a reason to do it.

Yeah, they have been taking ice-core samples in Antarctica and testing carbon levels and studying rock layers and our carbon levels are very, very high. In the past, we have always had plenty of foliage and places for foliage to grow to balance the levels but with deforestation and so many places where trees and plants cannot grow, with polluted waters where nothing grows, there is no way for our earth to balance the carbon. If you grow fruit trees, you can see the effects quite clearly. Pests are not being killed by cold winters, the weather is so erratic that the trees come out early and are hit by frost/cold weather later...stuff that was once very unusual and now it happens regularly. People would never have been invested in growing fruit if this was normal. But, for now, the oceans are absorbing most of the heat and Carbon dioxide so the worst of it won't be until the heat sink and carbon absorption has reached its limits.

My degree is in Chemical Engineering and this is just another thermodynamics problem.

Biting tongue, I'm not going to add my :twocents: only to say :badh: perhaps this thread should be closed.

I agree Shannon. And I've always wanted to use that little icon of the guy beating a dead horse. Well done!

Aye! Perhaps before we post, we should look ahead to the implications...although, the OP was innocently about house temperature.

I have used this one once or twice:

:whip:

And I'm surprised this one isn't already worn out. (I earn it a lot too):

:hijacked:

GP, the RH in my apt often is around 10-15% during the winter. One year, I tried running a humidifier 24/7. Even running a humidifier in a room provided only a very short-term minor improvement (I think I succeeded in attaining 35%). The vast majority of my orchids and other plants have weathered this less than desirable situation for years. Yes, there are some that can't handle it well or at all, but they are in a minority and phals are not among those that can't.

I have central air heat so there is no practical way of regulating heat via thermostat throughout the apt to meet different needs. Would it be possible to have one or two electric space heaters in the plant room? I assume you have taken some of the basic insulation steps like plastic covering the windows for the winter?

Interestingly enough, there are some of the old time plants that actually fared far better in homes like yours as opposed to the better insulated modern ones. Cyclamen are one that springs to mind. :)

Katrina, if you have or can get a tank -- either an old fish tank or an Exoterra or similar -- you could put the Paphinia in there. I've kept Paphinia Majestic in a 90gal terr for well over 10yrs now.

Regarding windowsill temps, one of those digital thermometers one finds at places like Lowes/HD are nice to have.

I do hear what you're saying and there is truth to it. But there is also something to be said for the style of some of those old homes compared to the bland cookie cutter things often made now. Then, too, there are the other cons regarding newer homes you mentioned as well.

And I'd be curious to know how much $ is wasted by leaving all the lights on 24/7...

On a related note, I know of contemporary schools which do not have windows which open. The argument being both the cost savings in not having windows or at least ones that are small and permanently shut as well as "but we have air conditioning..." Yes, and what happens when the power goes out or the A/C breaks down on a hot day?....

That humans are THE cause of climate change is a fallacy. The Earth goes through cycles and always will. But I will agree that humans are a contributing factor. As human populations continue to grow out of control, not much chance of that changing, I suspect.