It is very fashionable from folks in northern climates who routinely heat their homes in the winter to look down on those in those in southern climates that cool their homes in summer. Extreme heat and cold both kill. HVAC systems, heating and cooling, are both used to prevent this and to give comfort. Cooling your house on a 95 degree day to 75 degrees is a 20 degree move. In the north, when it is 30 degrees out, many heat their homes to 65 or 70 degrees, a 35 or 40 degree difference. Asking people to only heat to 50 degrees would be an outrage. Why? Well, because they are not comfortable at that temperature. For some reason using electricity to heat to comfort is considered necessary, but using electricity to cool is wasteful and ruining the climate. I am sure it has nothing to do with a greater percentage of wealthy caucasians living in colder climates and more less wealthy, non-caucasians living in hot climates.
So it is easy for the author to recommend this living in Kansas where I assume there is ample temperature fluctuation (ie. low-mid humidity) to allow evaporative cooling afforded by misting and fans. I am currently in Western Japan. Early morning temperature here is 80F with 80% humidity. Max temp tomorrow will be 93F with 75% humidity. Spending “more time outside” is literally a recipe for heat stroke. While the sentiment is noble to reduce air conditioner use, it really IS a location-dependent option.
A comment from the article:
https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/41i6a3
A Japanese commenter’s opinion:
https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/41i705