GoKawiilEurope is in the midst of its second big heat wave of the year, and it’s breaking more records. France just recorded its hottest day ever, with temperatures exceeding 44 degrees Celsius in some places. Around 40 people have drowned in local water bodies, likely attempting to escape the heat, and thousands more are without electricity.
As temperatures hit a sweltering 36 degrees in some regions of the United Kingdom, schools canceled classes and train delays abounded. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described London as “cooking.” As the city hosts its annual Climate Action Week, the UK meteorological service has issued a red alert for multiple regions, signaling that exceptionally hot and humid weather is forecasted and likely to impact the general public. Switzerland and Spain have also issued warnings to residents.
Emma Howard Boyd, the former chair of the London Climate Resilience Review who now chairs the National Heat Risk Commission in the UK, said that when it comes to heat resilience in the country, the problem is not just homes—which are usually not air-conditioned.
“All of our infrastructure was built for a different type of climate,” she said. Even seemingly small things, like malfunctioning elevators in tall buildings, could become lethal during a fire. The London Climate Resilience Review found that 18 elevators in public housing blocks in a single city borough failed during the 2022 heat wave.
National policies to address the changing climate, she said, should also take into account those most vulnerable to heat stress, like children, the elderly, and pregnant women. On Monday, two children died in a hot car in France.
Heat can adversely impact many different essential bodily functions, like sleeping and exercising.
For many climate scientists, the link between the frequency and duration of these heat waves and climate change cannot be overstated. Some have even gone public with their dissatisfaction with the media coverage of the heat wave. This past May, only 40 percent of British television and radio news stories about the heat wave linked it to climate change, according to Climate News Tracker.