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In the report, “ (March 15), David Fogarty writes that the air-conditioning we use to keep cool is, paradoxically, one of the causes of higher temperatures that people are experiencing. As a freelancer who works in various places, including malls and co-working spaces, I have become accustomed to the irony of living near the equator but having to wear layers of shirts, jackets and sweaters in order to feel comfortable when I am indoors. The even larger irony is that despite what is known about the major role of air-conditioning in global warming, we over-cool buildings, thereby making the world warmer and leading to the need for more air-conditioning. This creates a vicious circle. I appreciate that different people have different tolerance for heat and cold. Perhaps a compromise would be for centrally controlled buildings to settle on the Singapore Government’s suggested temperature of 25 deg C. Last week, when I requested less air-conditioning at the co-working space I was at, the response was a typical one, “Sorry, but it’s centrally controlled” – accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders. This week, I bought a clock/thermometer, which I took to that co-working space. It registered 21.7 deg C. There is no need to shrug our shoulders helplessly in the face of global warming. Using less air-conditioning is one of many ways we can do our bit to cool the planet.