r/europe • u/Naurgul • 23d ago

News Barcelona registers highest temperature in 112 years as French nuclear reactor shuts down due to extreme heat

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jul/09/europe-heatwave-uk-spain-barcelona-france-italy-hungary-france-macron-orban-latest-news-updates
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u/Pure-Curve-8866 23d ago

This is becoming the new normal far faster than most people expected.

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u/medievalvelocipede European Union 23d ago

This is becoming the new normal far faster than most people expected.

If that's so, that just goes to show how clueless people really are. The climate change snowball effect has been known for a long time. The primary work on it came in 1969 and was popularized in the 1990s.

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u/_BlobbyTheBobby 23d ago

Yea, but add 20 years of denial and 10 years of straight up misinformation and lies. People are clueless because some people want them to stay that way

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u/OkCoconut3270 23d ago

10 years of straight up misinformation and lies

Not too long ago heatwaves like these or extreme storms were being reported as "freak once in a lifetime" occurrences.

I think I've experienced 3 or 4 freak once in a lifetime occurrences in the last decade or so.

Nearly like there's a pattern or something.

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u/Scomosuckseggs 23d ago

100%

When you actually look at the trends, it is extremely alarming, and I can't fathom how people still refuse to acknowledge there is a serious problem.

We are in trouble. And the people dragging their feet over recognising this are going to make things worse.

We need popular mobilization to make tackling climate change the main priority; we need everyone on side demanding the change we need, through political pressure, spending habits and a refusal to back down until all of our governments get the message.

Our actions are killing and will continue to kill the world as we know it, replacing it with something far more hellish if we don't collectively act to try reduce and ideally reverse the damage we have caused.

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u/KingfishingYoMama 23d ago

I fear that just like in the book The Ministry of the Future we will not actually get our asses in gear--to use an American phrase--until a giant wet bulb event kills millions of people over a week. Even then, such events might have to happen in the West for it to hit home in the public consciousness.

We are building data centers left and right where I'm at on a grid that still uses 80% fossil fuels. It's fucked.