Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s request to set thermostats higher during New York’s worst heatwave in over a decade draws major backlash and memes.
Imagine it’s nearly 38°C outside, the humidity makes it feel past 40°C, and your city’s leader asks you to turn your air conditioner up to 25.5°C (78°F). Would you do it?
New Yorkers certainly aren’t having it.
As New York City faces its worst heatwave since 2012, newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a public appeal to residents and businesses on X on July 2: set your ACs to a warmer temperature and cut back on using lights and heavy appliances.
Why the high temperature?
The request was purely to save the city’s power grid from collapsing. Con Edison, the city’s major electricity provider, warned that massive AC usage between 2 pm and 10 pm could cause severe power outages (what we in India know all too well as load-shedding).
To prevent blackouts, the Mayor even promised that official government buildings would follow the same rule.
Alongside this, the city rolled out emergency measures like 600 public cooling centers, medical vans, and a temporary pause on tenant evictions.
The backlash: “Why should we suffer?”
While 25.5°C is actually the standard recommendation by energy departments globally to save electricity, New Yorkers found it completely unlivable in the suffocating heat.
Furious locals pointed out the hypocrisy of asking citizens to sweat at home while the massive, ultra-bright digital billboards in Times Square remained fully powered.
The power company, however, explained that New York’s grid is split into isolated neighborhood networks, meaning turning off Times Square wouldn’t actually send extra power to residential homes.
Beyond the memes, activists pointed out a dangerous reality. Many low-income senior citizens already avoid using the AC to save on electricity bills.
Pushing a higher temperature limit could put vulnerable elderly people at risk of severe heatstroke.
