No more hot air

As usual, the poor are suffering more than the rich. Climate change is hitting harder and more cruelly if you live in the Global South or if you are living on the streets or in poverty. The World Weather Attribution group of scientists has been studying and monitoring our weather and they are clear that the current spate of heat waves,“virtually impossible just 50 years ago”, are due to climate change, generated by the human race,“the culprit for Europe’s ‘most severe’ heatwave”.

Heatwaves expose and highlight inequalities. An analysis by Al Jazeera, focussed on France, explains how people on low incomes with limited resources are unable to escape the heat. Bruno Villalba, a political science professor at AgroParisTech Paris-Saclay, specialising in political ecology and environmental policy, told Al Jazeera, “The heatwave is merely a symptom of social vulnerability, particularly in terms of housing”. Many overcrowded suburbs in French cities, notably Paris, Lyon and Marseille, have not had government investment, and apartments in these areas are punishingly hot and increase the risk of heat exhaustion and untimely death. 

Le Revers is an activist group that was formed during the 2024 Paris Olympics to highlight the conditions faced by homeless people in the Paris area. One member of this group is Paul Alauzy of Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World). He commented, “People who are outside don’t have a moment’s respite. They are suffocating in a concrete jungle where there is no simple, effective way to escape the intense heat. On asphalt, the perceived temperature can often rise to 45-50 degrees”.

Wealthier people have many more ways to keep cool – refrigeration, air conditioning, leaving the city to escape the heat. Air conditioning reduces the risk of heat-related deaths by approximately 75% compared to those without it. But air conditioning is expensive to install, adds a considerable sum to energy bills and requires an expensive annual service. At present approximately 2 billion air-conditioners are in operation globally, adding to the demands we make on our energy sources and in doing so putting a strain on power grids. They are also contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Many cheaper air conditioners are the least energy efficient and the energy needed overall for air conditioning generates about 4% of global greenhouse gases emissions, which is even more than the entire aviation industry. So we can see that our increasing need to cool the air in our homes is both a cause and an effect of climate change.

Meanwhile, while the poor suffer in western cities, elsewhere in the world the effects of extreme heat are even more intolerable. In Gaza families are living in tents as refugees in their own land and are trying to survive in scorching heat with no reliable water supply, no electricity and of course no fans. Corporations continue to profit from their misery with arms sales to Israel while our government ignores the dire threat of climate change outlined in the recent National Emergency Briefing. 

It is easy for governments to overlook the fact that they have legally binding commitments to reduce emissions. Over 100 nations pledged at the Paris Agreement to reach net-zero emissions. But we are falling short and global warming continues at an alarming rate. Hopefully, with continued pressure from prominent campaigners and organisations such as Extinction Rebellion, Take Back Power (Just Stop Oil), Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Fridays For Future, The Climate Coalition and from smaller local groups and individuals, the government will listen and act rather than dismissing them or arresting and imprisoning their activists. There are many large corporate polluters and wealthy individuals who bear far more responsibility than others, but we all need to be prepared to change how we live if life on earth is to survive.