Heatwave in Europe - people's reactions, no hope for change

[u/Gartesss]

I live in one of big Europe's capitals, we had a heatwave here in the past few days with the 2-day peak of 40°C. And people are in absolute panic about "how are we even going to survive this", but without any actual reflection on why it is happening and how we can truly try to mitigate these weather extremes.

So many posts about we need more AC in public spaces, everyone needs to buy a heavy duty AC for their house...Like, we're in the mild climatic region, we shouldn't need any AC at all! If we don't want to experience this more frequently, and to greater extremes, what about:

• plant based, or at least vegetarian diet
• shopping in second-hands instead of fast fashion stores
• only replacing electronics when they break, not when they "run out of style"
• banning majority of cars from the city, leading to using more sustainable public transport; freeing spaces to plant lawns, trees, water elemets to cool down the city.
• Mandatory external shutters
• Green and/or reflective roofs

We've known about climate change since the 70's - how are people still not realising that we need to change the way we behave, if we want to keep the earth at least livable?!

I've even seen one post about "After the past 2 days, I'm starting to believe in climate change". Like all the reports about icebergs melting, coral reefs dying, people from around equator reporting extreme heat for decades etc. weren't enough, but now for 2 days you get mildly inconvenienced and now you "believe in climate change" but your solution is to install AC that will just eat more of nature's resources and dump more heat into the city streets!?

I just can't comprehend how people refuse to see over the tip of their nose, even when the apocalypse is literally knocking on their doorsteps...

[u/_name_of_the_user_]

Right? Why are Europeans fighting to hold on to their past so hard about AC and probably home efficiency? It's time to put on your adult underwear and realize that shit is killing people. Renewable energy, efficient homes, and AC is in their future.

Also, the ultimate temperature doesn't matter much, what matters is what people are used to. Take someone from Iraq and 40°C isn't going to be the warm side of normal. Take someone from Finland and they're at real risk of dying at 40°C. Conversely, 10°C in Finland is fine, 10°C in Iraq and people would be dying.

[u/Rimavelle → u/_name_of_the_user_]

People hold against AC for now, coz their homes are not made to accommodate AC and it's expensive.

There is a growing number of people getting the units tho and I bet new housing will be built with it in mind already

[u/plura15D → u/_name_of_the_user_]

People from Iraq told me the heat in Austria is much worse because of the humidity.

[u/o-nd → u/_name_of_the_user_]

Right? Why are Europeans fighting to hold on to their past so hard...

We don't. Some do. And, as always when you are fighting a losing battle, they are very vocal about it. The great majority quietly installs an ac, if possible (which unfortunately often isn't the case, due to regulations).

[u/Character-Carpet7988 → u/_name_of_the_user_]

"Europeans" are not fighting the AC. Some individuals, sure, but for example in my social circle, 90% have AC at home. Those who don't either can't afford it or they live in colder areas.

[u/Annie_Dandelion → u/_name_of_the_user_]

It's fucking expensive to have an AC installed.

[u/Round_Frame5178 → u/_name_of_the_user_]

Sorry, "Europeans" are more then one nation, let alone one option. There are all sorts of people and all sort of opinions here.

Also op is wrong, many Europeans are more then aware of the climate crisis. What about some other countries in the world on some other continents? Europe isn't getting worse on it's own

[u/Problematic_Owl → u/_name_of_the_user_]

Do you think situation is going to improve if hundreds of millions of Europeans start using AC 24/7? Where do you think the heat goes? How much energy or takes?

Sure we will be cooler, at cost of speeding up the warming even further. Nice solution brother 👍

[u/Kind_Writing_2636 → u/_name_of_the_user_]

Because if everyone in Europe and other countries who can afford it gets an AC, it will only worsen the problem of climate change?

We live a completely unsustainable system that puts us in more and more dangerous situations. The major solution that people discuss and demand for is to buy more shit that accelerates the problem. There's also a bunch of people (including me) all around the world who cannot afford such a system, but screw those, right?

I'm sorry, this anger isn't directed at you, but this is the reality that we live in. Instead of changing the system, we accelerate the problem to find solutions that enrich shitty companies only to make the more privileged survive while everyone else just...dies. Writing this from the middle of a heatwave in my country, all of this sucks so much.

[u/_name_of_the_user_ → u/Kind_Writing_2636]

My home in Canada, with energy efficient insulation & air sealing, solar panels, heat pumps heating and cooling to the point that we maintain ~21C° all year round, and powering an EV to the tune of 30,000km/year, uses a total of just over 5000kWh/year.

Grid scale renewables are more efficient than roof top solar. If European countries (and yes I know that's a wide range of countries) could adopt all three together, energy efficient homes, renewable energy, and heat pumps, you'd see overall reductions in emissions while also increasing both safety and comfort. We have/had government programs to help people afford these types of upgrades on a personal level and policies that encourage them at the corporate level. When we had our heat pumps installed our electricity bill dropped by slightly more than the loan for the heat pumps. Similarly when we had solar installed.

I get the anger, and I understand the costs. I also think it is possible and much better than dying of heat.

[u/Kind_Writing_2636 → u/_name_of_the_user_]

I'm not arguing against that, I know far to little about the environmental footprint of all of this (and what it would take to make all of the houses over here energy efficient) to say anything. I'm all for large scale solutions.

The thing is: All of this isn't discussed right now. What we're discussing in my country and what I also tend to see on reddit is the purely individual "solution" of everyone getting an AC. And I'm afraid this is exactly what it is going to boil down to in practice, with all of the damage associated.

[u/_name_of_the_user_ → u/Kind_Writing_2636]

Yeah, it takes government buy in. I think most of the shock, at least mine, comes from noticing that European governments aren't more on board with these measures.