106
Human-made global warming ‘caused two in three heat deaths in Europe this summer’
(www.theguardian.com)
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
Makes me wonder if Europeans don't know how to handle heat. Or maybe not everywhere is air conditioned? Anyone tell me what it's like over there? I know, it's going to vary wildly by country.
I was a kid in 1980 Oklahoma, the summer of "who shot JR?". We had 50 days of 100F+ weather. Killed my rabbit. :( All that to say, I'm not unsympathetic, but in many places in America, we know how to handle heat.
People dying from the heat are older people or people already in bad medical conditions. Not kid or healthy people.
AC could have an influence but the excess mortality due to heatwave is also happening in countries with a lot of AC like Australia : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412025004982?via=ihub#t0010
Air conditioning is far less common in most of Europe than in the US. There is a real stigma associated with it, and some jurisdictions require evidence of a medical condition to all you to install it at home