It’s so hot. So horrendously hot.
As I sit working in this Parisian café, any last romantic notions of a life abroad in France have gone down like a lead balloon. There is no air conditioning, my thighs are stuck to these cheap leather seats, and there is nary a fan in sight. As my English friend Emma wrote in a group chat Tuesday, “I just feel like crying in this heat. … It feels like there is a paper jam in my mind!!”
Paris, like dozens of cities in Europe, is on red alert this week as a heat wave sweeps across the continent. Spain saw its hottest month of June ever on record, and Portugal registered temperatures of up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Italy and France have already reported heat-related deaths, with observers warning of more to come.
Why We Wrote This
Europe is not built for the sort of heat wave that’s presently hanging over the continent. It’s all that residents like the Monitor’s Paris correspondent can do to find ways to keep just a little bit cooler.
This is, of course, not the first time Europe has felt the heat, nor will it be the last. A Barcelona Institute of Global Health study estimated that almost 50,000 people died due to heat waves on the continent in 2023. The World Meteorological Organization predicts that global temperatures are expected to continue at or near record levels over the next five years.
I know that world leaders are working on it. Climate activist Greta Thunberg is working on it. Last month, high-level negotiations took place in Bonn, Germany, to prepare for COP30 in Brazil next November, with the goal of committing countries to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above (2.7 F above) preindustrial levels. I have hope that change will come.
But right now, I just desperately want to go to the frozen-food section of the grocery store so I can get some sweet relief.
Saying to a French person, however, that you yearn for air conditioning is enough to get yourself banned from social gatherings here for the rest of your life. More than likely, you’ll get chastised by a grandmother who has managed to overhear, and is itching to tell you that air conditioning makes her feel ill.
But even the change-averse French are starting to reconsider. I met one mother Tuesday who admitted that she had bought a small air-conditioning unit while she was pregnant. Another said she went down to the basement to dig out the portable device she bought in Barcelona.
Still, the facts don’t lie: Air-conditioning is a patchwork solution that has devastating effects on the environment. Widespread use of air conditioners drive up temperatures by feeding the climate crisis, and according to the United Nations Environment Programme, that could leave up to three-quarters of the planet exposed to dangerously high temperatures by 2100.
There must be other solutions.
France and many other parts of Europe desperately need to better insulate schools, hospitals, and public buildings. We need more electric cars, to plant more trees and rooftop gardens, and create more parks. Europe’s governments know this, and new infrastructure is starting to bear the fruits of the ecological transition.
But in the interim, Europeans are suffering. Paris’ 1900s-era Haussmannian apartment buildings are charming, but they’re impossible to keep cool. Recent studies show that over 5 million primary residences in France – more than 1 in 10 – are poorly insulated. Residents in some high-rise apartments have complained of suffocating temperatures reaching 107 F.
And this week, 1,900 schools in France were closed due to their inability to cool off. Still more, like my daughters’ school, suggested that parents keep their children at home. One doesn’t need to be good at math to understand the detrimental effect on the French economy of having all those parents out of the workforce for three days. Couldn’t we have avoided it all by giving schools, I don’t know, fans?
One town near Lyon is doing just that, and testing something Americans might find incredibly obvious: ceiling fans. For the last two years, Vénissieux has reportedly installed 150 fans in 30-odd buildings around town. Experts say they consume up to 40 times less electricity than air conditioning – with corresponding savings on cost.
If I needed any convincing, I got it Tuesday when I took my daughters out of school and headed to the newly constructed library up the street that promised “natural ventilation.” As the mercury tipped toward 100 F, I was skeptical. But as I walked in, I was met with dozens of ceiling fans, an elaborate system of window aeration, and a surprisingly tolerable temperature of 79 F.
It’s further proof that Europe has the knowledge to make better choices – we just need to follow through. Our biggest challenge will be updating existing infrastructure: historic and beautiful, yes, but irritatingly energy-sucking.
If weather predictions are correct, France and the rest of Europe look to be getting some relief over the next few days. Until then, French people are getting creative. This week I’ve heard everything from mopping the floor with cold water and letting it sit, to filling up bowls with ice cubes and putting them in front of a fan.
At this point, I’m willing to try anything. In the meantime, if you need me, I’ll be in the frozen-food aisle.
