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| Heat dome by NOAA |
So there it is and I told you so doesn't give me any satisfaction. This is the feedback loop that climate scientists predicted. Europe is stuck under the Omega dome/block with temperatures that were predicted to occur in 2050, then 2030 as it was happening faster than computer models calculated.
Four weeks at 35 to 42 Celsius in June is 15 degrees above normal.
The big gripe that I have with climate scientists is that while they predicted that this would happen their only solution is to get rid of dependency on oil and gas. Industries and economies don't work that way. Fossil fuels started this process but the methane released from glaciers and the arctic/antarctic is much worse than co2. Nor can certain factories get the energy they need from electricity or solar panels alone.
The middle east is a perfect example. The Saudis, Kuwait, Qatar and other oil rich exporters are able to maintain infrastructure that allows them to live and survive. They've regularly dealt with 40 Celsius (I'm using the scientific system) and can only do so because almost all homes have air-conditioning. This is an oversimplification as corruption plays a big role in the poverty of countries.
So. Who is any country to tell functional countries to stop their exports, roll over and die through climate change?
What stunned me the most is Europe's indifference toward its people and public health.
This isn't a problem of the poor and public health services should be geared toward keeping a population healthy.
Germanys major cities have one cooling center in the main library or airport. Berlin (Population 4 million). The rest are told to go to parks to cool off. Keep in mind that they enjoy living without air-conditioning in office buildings and at home.
Switzerland offered free movie theaters as cooling centers.
Paris well other than lots of fountains not much either.
Europe's railway is struggling because of the heat strain of the tracks.
Vs.
The Japanese. Cooling spots, cooling centers are everywhere and easily accessible. Many trains are so advanced they use magnets which aren't affected unless it goes above 80 Celsius.
The UK London opened all of its air-conditioned museums and galleries for free.
This climate change is here to stay. Too late to reverse it. What if anything is your municipality doing? What have you noticed about the weather?
I live where air conditioning is everywhere. You need only endure the heat between car and building. The biggest change is that it's getting hot sooner, stays hot longer.
ReplyDeleteCodex Impossible otherwise in Arizona, Florida Texas. Heat is happening everywhere. World can't cool off if we don't get cooled ocean currents from Europe.
DeleteMetro Phoenix has had Surface of the Sun temps forever so we probably deal with Heat better than Non-Desert Climate locales. I lived in Europe, I can't imagine those temps with no AC, but agree with you that the Europeans aren't seeming to be proactive about what they knew was gonna happen so they're way behind the 8-Ball now. My gripe about our locale is they allowed Data Centers... WHY!!!!!!??"?:? They know they use way too much Water and Electricity, we have scarcity of both... and, they heat up where they are by around 15 Degrees for Six Miles around one, so at our normal Temps in Summer being 116-120 now, WTF were they thinking allowing ANY in a Desert? Short Term Greed = Long Term Disasters.
ReplyDeleteCodex obviously.
DeleteSee my answer above. Europe is playing ostrich. I don't get it.
Many municipalities fought against it. Texas/Arizona are bribeable so you ended up with them.
The previous government in Germany had some excellent long term legal proposals to combat and mitigate climate change which of course had to be trashed by the conservative one we have now.
ReplyDeleteAs for AC, the many people who swapped their heating system from fossile fuels to heat pumps - which the previous government was subsidising and for which they were ousted (how dare they take away the freedom to heat with gas or oil) - now have the benefit of AC from the same system that heats their home in winter. And if they have PV to supply the energy, even better.
Standard construction here in Germany is heavy masonry with considerable thermal mass (stone in older buildings and reinforced concrete in newer ones). Newer construction has dense insulation foam on the outside, holding in the heat in the winter and the cool in the summer. Windows are at least double-glazed and exterior roll-down shades are standard. Adjusting windows for fresh air and thermal regulation is something we learn/teach in school. There are high rise areas where people have a hard time and obviously, the current high temps are causing a lot of distress and health risks.
We can keep our house - built hastily after WWII in the early 1950s, so the walls are not very thick but with a basement - cool without AC, as does every other house in our suburb.
Several friends who live in rural Italy and rural South of France report that their homes, small, old, stone walls, shaded by trees, are nice and cool.
We lived and worked for several years in a humid, tropical environment three degrees south of the equator where AC was only available to tourists. Houses were single story, made from cheap concrete, usually had a tin roof and louvre windows and a line of decorative air gaps just below the roof so that there was a constant airflow inside. We did not suffer but it took a while to adjust. Likewise, we had a hard time returning to cold Europe.
There is a lot going on - much too late - on local levels to mitigate and improve living conditions and maybe, maybe this summer's heat brings the message home. Unfortunately (?) the forecast is lower temps by Sunday evening and a cooler period ahead and if the next summer is once again cool and rainy, people forget or pretend it was a freak one week event.
Codex
ReplyDeleteAnything above 25 in June is a problem. I appreciate the detail you provided but have heard this narrative before. You guys had ac in the 90s what changed? Muricas libraries used to be open all night during heat waves. No longer. Im looking at it from a publivc health perspecive.
In the UK I often heard we've always had flooding...denial is not just a river.
@Sabine
ReplyDeleteI sent a relative in your neck of the woods to a library. She said instead of 41 it was 37 and not worth the trip. (Got yelled at)
Blah blah blah and rarara:
https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/11-06-2026-statement---europe-lost-200-000-people-to-heat-in-4-years-yet-nearly-all-of-them-were-preventable