Excerpt:

More than 61,000 people died because of Europe’s record-shattering heat wave last summer, scientists have concluded. And that’s probably still an underestimation.

The figure is just shy of the 70,000 excess deaths researchers attribute to another exceptional heat wave that swept Europe in 2003. That disaster helped raise awareness about the dangers of climate change and the continent’s general lack of heat action plans.

Yet the new findings suggest that in the two decades since, efforts to prepare for a hotter future and protect the continent’s most vulnerable populations have fallen short.

  • The top priority should be remaking housing so it doesn’t require power to keep up comfortable (and everything else so we don’t need power to enjoy it).

    Iran has had this knowledge for over 1000 years. Termites longer. It’s utter insanity not to do this. We imagine we live in a fast changing high tech civilization but our ‘solutions’ are to pretend renewables will let us carry on like before. Rural folk in Bangladesh have adapted to seasonal flooding by taking to living on boats for part of the year, their gardens on them providing shade under the vines. They’ve already adapted. The West, not so much.

  • Tens of thousands of people died during intense heat waves in Europe last summer, indicating that heat prevention plans aren’t protecting vulnerable populations

    I can’t help wondering if that’s intentional. Vulnerable populations tend to consist of people that the rich consider undesirable…

    • I can’t help wondering if that’s intentional.

      i don’t think so, no. the reason i think that is the people who study this stuff for a living are being taken aback at how quickly things are changing–and if they’re surprised, it’s inevitable breakdowns like this will happen because everyone else is moving slower than them.

      just in general, most places are woefully underprepared for a changing climate, and a lot of it is not caused by malice somewhere in the chain. it’s largely a combination of conservatism (both political and climatological), lack of political will, lack of resources, and just how quickly things are changing.

    • I think it’s “intentional” in the sense that rich people knew this was coming, they tell pleasing lies and publicly deny it, and they believe themselves to be insulated from the effects by their wealth and resources.

      And I guess they’re right about that.