Stories like this make me wish I knew how to make people care as much about things that actually matter as they do about whatever mean thing a politician said the other day.
As an Aussie visiting Europe that regularly deals with these temperatures… This is so much more uncomfortable than an Aussie summer. But it’s an easy fix: make AC a standard measure (the amount of shops and restaurants here that are high 30s INSIDE is something I’ve never seen before), make free drinking water a legal requirement, and make public toilets a thing too (so people don’t need to worry about hydrating!)
This means that safety from extreme heat is a privilege not a right.
Access to A/C for everyone is a progressive measure.
Sounds like “the plan” is working then. The poors die of heat stroke, dehydration, or other ill effects of climate change so the rich have a smaller population to subdue.
Don’t worry everyone, this heatwave will scare people into walking more and eating less beef and the global temperatures will start falling. In a year or two it will be back to normal.
Does the UK not even sell window unit acs? Or are they like super expensive over there? In the states you can buy a small one for like $200.
The WHO regional director for Europe stated that over 200000 people died from heat (and mostly preventably) in the last four years.
Honestly from someone that has a lot of trouble dealing with the heat I hope people become more aware of how dangerous heat can become. So tired of hearing people complain about the cold like the heat is aways good. I don’t have a heater, in fact I can sleep with the windows open in negative temperatures (celsius) but I NEED an air conditioner in the summer, but people always complain like is some sort of luxury, no is not, I don’t tell people during the winter that heating is a luxury despite the fact that I don’t have any heating
Same!
I also hate the term ‘lovely weather’ for such hot days. Lovely and people dieing from heat exhaustion is an awkward combo.
Exactly, wildfires everywhere, people dying, food spoiling and making people sick, UV radiation increasing your chances of skin cancer, everything and everyone smells bad from the sweat. Not “lovely” at all, specialy cause there’s not much you can do to protect yourself, unlike the cold, good clothes won’t save you
just wait until data centers 1. take all the electricity 2. cause heat islands 3. make utility bill go up 4x
American Southerner, here, and I feel for y’all. Be safe.
And people wonder why the birth rate is falling. You gotta spend extra money just to keep your children from overheating from global warming.
*Rich parents
You can book a cheap premier inn for about £45 a night in the UK.
Sure it’s still expensive, but the occasional splurge to get a comfortable nights sleep seems more cost effective than buying and running your own air con
And when it’s your child’s well being in play, you may spend a bit more than you otherwise would
A small window air conditioner is something like $200 here in the US.
hits Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-FHWC063TC1-Conditioner-Electronic-Controls/dp/B0CFYG2511
I mean, I’m not saying that a hotel room is unreasonable as a last minute thing — like, it’s a heatwave and I want to be in a cool environment within the hour — but in all seriousness, an air conditioner is gonna pay for itself pretty quickly if all you want is a cool room to sleep in and not the other things a hotel provides.
That style probably won’t fit in a window throughout much of Europe. Portable A/Cs can be used with a window adapter, but I think they’re usually more expensive. Also the efficiency tanks.
The world is cooking, and we are doing what?
Running away
well, you still have to deal with the emergency here, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do against heat, punch it in the face?
Otherwise yeah, there’s a lot of things in general to do, but it’s depressing when you see around you that a big proportion of people don’t care and a lot of them are the one that could change things faster
True, those babies should really work on climate change instead.
At this point just buy a portable AC if you want it so badly. Yes they are mostly single hose units which are less efficient. But so what? The extra power bill is nothing to hotel tickets.
I don’t know how it is in the UK currently, but here in the NL there aren’t any ACs in stock anywhere. They’re all sold out.
Best time to buy ac is in winter.
I bought mine in February for the purpose of heating my apartment without gas. It was installed by March.
Now I can count myself lucky that I have at least some relief from the heatwave in my office. (I’m only cooling the office during the day and the bedroom at night in order to save on electricity at the moment. There is no need to cool rooms which I’m not using)
True to a degree that is an issue too. I really need to get a window net so I can open the windows without letting the cat out. A powerful fan might also be useful as my current fan is getting old and a bit shit, bearings are probably a bit fucked.
I recommend getting some window restrictors rather than messing about with netting. There is a company called Beego that makes them, they are meant for kids but are perfect for cats too. I use them and recommended them to my friends with house cats, they use them now and it’s so much more convenient than using netting.
They look like this:
That seems like more enough space for a cat to get out. And if you make the opening even smaller you might as well keep the window closed.
It may seem that way from a picture that it’s enough space for a cat to get out, but I’m telling you from experience it isn’t! Purely a recommendation based on myself having two house cats and using these on 6 different windows in my house, and a variety of friends having used them with their cats too.
Not sure about the UK but in mainland Europe our windows can already be put into “tilt”, though usually horizontally. But it’s still not save for cats.
Ah that’s fair! Yeah in the UK a lot of homes have casement windows where these things work great.
I suppose if you haven’t planned for the heat, and then ac units are all sold out everywhere, a hotel is an option
If you have nobody in your community with AC who will help. Holy shit this is bleak.
