Camels evolved from a cold-weather ancestor. We could learn from their remarkable transformation

Editor’s Note: Portions of this story appear in “Life As We Know it,” a new book by award-winning journalist and CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir, who draws on ancient wisdom, cutting-edge technology and the giants of psychology to make sense of the changing planet and give his kids the tools they need to build strong and resilient communities, come what may. Julian Quinones/CNN Penguins need relatively dry, bare rock to nest, and after a warmer, wetter Antarctic summer dumped enough rain and snow to delay nesting season by a month, the new gentoos I’d met simply wouldn’t have enough time to grow the feathers and fat needed to swim and fish the Southern Ocean over winter. This $5 million investment, along with a “policy of shade” to extend awnings, tree plantings and drop-in cooling centers, is part of a specific campaign to save the cultural treasure known as charla al fresco — that delicious moment after sunset when grandmothers can pull their chairs together in courtyards for a “cool chat.” But maybe the best test to see if Homo sapiens are as savvy as camels and gentoo penguins is whether we use technology that already exists on store shelves to cool more efficiently, at a lower cost and with less pollution and grid-crashing demand for peaker-plant power. “Don’t let the cold out!” my dad would bellow as I left the door wide open in an urgent need to play, but both of us were clueless that our dumb energy hog was already working harder because most American air conditioners lacked a common part with the unsexy name of “inverter.” We could control the fan speed on window units, swamp coolers, and split systems back in the day, but the cooling compressor had only two settings—on and off.