Bubbles got dissed!

Ha, but she certainly put that commenter in his or her place.

Or at least she seems to believe that she did!

;D

BTW, she may be an airhead & not quite understand a few fundamental principles of how air conditioners work, but she was a timely airhead! Late last week, the NY Times City Room blog posted on the same topic, with links to a report by an environmentalist group which did an informal survey similar to mine the one Bubbles did - i.e., going for a walk with a camera. Theirs was quite a bit longer - they didn't make it down to Soho, though.

The interesting thing that I learned from these posts is that there's now actually a law against this leaving of doors open to draw in customers. I feel like a bit of an airhead myself admitting that I had forgotten about this, but last summer, the city council had passed what the NRDC blog refers to as a "'no-brainer' energy conservation bill". "No-brainer" is a good way to put it, too. In fact that sheer obviousness is why I do get irritated when I see open doors pouring cool air into the streets -- whatever your opinions on global warming (and for all I live here in the liberal-elite heartland & am definitely on board with trying to keep my carbon footprint as small as I can manage & all that, I do know people who genuinely believe that the threat is being overstated by people who are angling to make a buck off the matter), I would think that at this point, most rational people would agree that as long as the bulk of our energy is derived from nonrenewable resources, resources which simply cannot be obtained without some cost to the environment, we should do what we can to conserve. Keeping doors closed while air-conditioning is one ludicrously easy way to cut down on waste. Doesn't require scientific inquiry, research & development teams, p&l analyses - just a manager with a little common sense (oh, yes, & a corporate policy that allows them to exercise that common sense).

Hmph. So there.

At any rate, the whole point of this post is to mention thatif you happen to be a resident of NYC who is similarly annoyed by open shop doors, and you want to do something conrete, that NRDC group has a simple, practical suggestion:

Readers...noticing large stores or chain stores with open doors and air conditioners cranked up could jumpstart the overdue enforcement by calling the City's helpline - 311 - to file a complaint. When calling 311 from your cell phone or home phone, just tell the operator that you are calling to report a violation of Local Law 38, relating to energy conservation and open doors at retail stores.

Thus endeth the rant.