In recent years, Europe’s late springs and summers have gotten hotter and hotter. The data is brutal, with tens of thousands of Europeans dying from heat-related causes every year. 2024 was one of the worst years for Europe as far as heat and heat-related deaths. Currently, Europe is in the middle of yet another catastrophic heat wave. While countries like Spain and Italy deal with the heat by turning on air conditioning, other countries like France and Germany choose to villainize air conditioning and refuse to change public policy around health and safety. The AP just published a brutal piece about all of the heat-stroke deaths in France in recent weeks, deaths which have overwhelmed French mortuaries. Instead of changing public policy around AC, one French official has decided to… blame America.
A Paris official has said she holds the US partially responsible for the record-breaking heatwave in France. The comments were made as part of a scathing rebuke to American tourists, immigrants and expats who have been criticising France for its lack of air conditioning across the country. Over the past week, the transatlantic discourse online has also been heating up, with some Americans – many living in desert and tropical climes in the southern US – mocking the French and Western Europeans for not being able to withstand temperatures to which they are accustomed to every year.
“Dear American journalists and social media ‘influencers’: for days, some of you have been criticising and making fun of Paris because the city does not have A/C in every room…OMG, this is so rich!” wrote Audrey Pulvar, deputy mayor of Paris for international relations, on social media. “As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, you bear a significant amount of responsibility for global warming and the consequences we, in France, are experiencing. Your cities, which are 90 per cent air conditioned, are not unrelated to this.”
After listing Paris’s green initiatives, Ms Pulvar ended her posts by criticising the US for what she described as the country’s disdain for the planet. “So please, enough with the lecture. Just start doing your part. Best regards.”
Unlike the US, where air conditioning is common, in France only one in four households has air conditioning. Historically, the French have been sceptical about air conditioning: an Ipsos survey published earlier this month found that 78 per cent of French people believe that it’s bad for the environment and one in six respondents said they would rather suffer for the sake of the planet.
But last week’s record-breaking temperatures have shown that attitudes have shifted, with retailers across the country selling out of portable air conditioning units and videos capturing shoppers forming long queues and tearing at pallets holding units freshly offloaded from delivery trucks.
Preliminary mortality figures released Sunday by Public Health France show that the country has registered 1,000 more deaths than previous months since the peak of the heatwave on Wednesday, when temperatures edged past the 40C threshold in many parts of France. The number of home deaths also spiked by 40 per cent during that time. But the minister of health also warned that heat-related illnesses can last long after the heatwave has ended, and that the mortality rate could rise.
“One in six respondents said they would rather suffer for the sake of the planet….” Do they realize that they’re not just making that choice for themselves, but for their parents and grandparents? True story: it takes more energy (and it’s more expensive) to heat a home in winter than cool it down with AC in summer. Following this logic, shouldn’t people turn off their heat and “suffer” through frigid, below-freezing temperatures in winter for the environment? Why is hypothermia acknowledged as a bad thing but heat stroke is not? As for Audrey Pulvar… it feels like French officials are unprepared for all of the attention and criticism they’re getting on social media, as the rest of the world is seeing this crisis unfold in real time. It actually warms my heart (or cools my heart, as I have the AC running right now) to see that French people are starting to wake up to reality and they’re now buying air-conditioning units as soon as the units come off the truck. Welcome to the dark side, AC should be a human right!!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Le Diner du Crif en presence de Audrey Pulvar au Carrousel du Louvre,Image: 755949766, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Jonathan Rebboah/Avalon
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- Audrey Pulvar,Image: 851499871, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Baptiste Autissier/Avalon
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- France’s President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tarik ahead of a meeting at The Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on June 29, 2026. Emmanuel Macron recoit sa Majeste Haitham bin Tarik Sultan d’Oman,Image: 1113375722, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
Bitch, please. Lol.
It’s true that the U.S. is contributing immensely to global warming, especially because of our shithole government. So I’m going to say that the French official is not wrong. They should also use air conditioning more, like some other European countries do. So in the end, Trump is really destroying the world, as many predicted he would.
I’ve been thinking this all along. Climate change is a predominantly American made disaster and we need to own that. I felt so guilty about the 2024 election, knowing the future of the planet was in the hands of uneducated minions as the world watched in horror.
Trump’s acceleration policies aside, experts have been arguing for decades that this would be the natural, inevitable culmination of decades of inaction on the part of our government and China, India, Russia etc,
The thing that kills me is that we could so easily have had access to abundant, clean energy for the last 20 years but fossil fuel lobbyists and the power brokers in DC refuse to allow it.
That being said, to blame ACs is ridiculous. In the northeast we have mostly window ACs (although heating and cooling pumps are becoming more popular due to rebate programs) but we use them only a few months out of the year. We just went weeks without using ours because the weather has been so nice in Boston and it’s been very cool at night. Her comment feels like she’s scapegoating us because French people continue to dig their heals in over a false narrative.
For europhiles, this Guardian piece couldn’t be more timely
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/30/emissions-do-smaller-countries-climate-efforts-matter
The gist of it, pointing fingers can only get you so far, but hypocrisy FTW.
With ultranationalist winnings, the delusion of past grandeur abounds. So back to the good ol’ days with wood fire cooking, kitchen gardens for Londoners (lol), spinning wool from my postage backyard/balcony flock of sheep to knit my cardigan, and all this sourdough bread, hahaha.
I’m enjoying the whole let’s blame America and Americans for climate change disaster cause we Europeans (insert anyone else you want except US) ) are innocent. Sigh. It makes me sound like an uber patriot, hahaha.
If y’all are so concerned, why not go after the World Cup? Or Wimbledon? Talk about a dirty business. Or just have EU close its borders to tourism, end its multinationals’ presence abroad— especially when exploiting poorer countries for their vast resources, end its reliance on the US for security — that might return taxpayers dollars to Americans who need better social services.
On the other side of the world, poorer Asian countries are getting all these western immigrants (they prefer to be called ex-pats) who claim they can’t afford to live in the UK, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Spain, etc. and want to live as residents in SE Asia. They get angry if local countries don’t given them open ended visa or demand proof of financial means and health insurance. These “ex-pats” want a better life, with AC, space, fine dining, gardeners, cleaners, etc. all on the cheap.
Sigh. Y’all are a funny bunch. But no one is laughing.
@Kit, your last sentence is so apt. Signed,
A Mortified American
@kit – I legit don’t get your point. Does colonialism and hypocrisy exist in Europe? Of course. Does that diminish the fact that the US as the world’s most powerful economy and third largest populace has a responsibility to the planet its not living up to?
@Mighty Molly: My pushback is toward people who say the US bears sole responsibility for global warming. It’s convenient scapegoating and cherry picking by saying US has released more CO2 since 1750, yet ignored the fact China in 20 years has released so much CO2 to the point that in 2024 china became the biggest emitter of CO2. (Or for that matter ignoring Europe and UK contribution since the industrial revolution.) If this is a race, then China is doing a bang up job in catching up to the US in mere 20 years. Yet to some posters, they conveniently leave out such fact. Facts like China should absolutely be applauded (as should any country and communities) for expanding renewables. However, it also currently has 1200 active coal plants and the US, 200. China is also building coal plants in Africa for industrial use. And in 2026, Reuter reports China coal power usage once again has increased as China became the world’s largest consumer of power due to its large population and industrial ambition.
What I find hypocritical is tarring all Americans guilty while conveniently leaving out blame for billionaires all over the world and their multi-national corporations. In this thread, some posters have blame Americans for forcing rampant consumerism on the world. Certainly the US can be a bull and a bully—especially under Trump. But why act like Trump and use his tactic to demonize whole group of people? No one is forcing Chinese consumers to buy high end French or Italian luxury goods. Certainly not the Americans. America is not forcing Sweden to build fast fashion H&M across the globe.
What I find disturbing is this easy willingness to tar and feather all Americans thereby sowing divisiveness instead of finding commonality. Many, many Americans and their communities work hard and care about the environment. They believe in reuse, recycle, and renew. On my block of 21 families, only 3 have central AC using heat pump. We do get temps above 90 but not for the entire summer. Some have small AC unit for their bedroom. We cover our windows with thick blankets or curtains during the day and open the windows only at night. My city banned single use plastic including plastic straws and containers over a decade ago (which has caused much derision in conservative tabloid press) and have been separating out garbage, recyclables, and compostable waste for over 30 years now. We have a long history of conserving water in the summer because we rely on snowpack and reservoirs during the dry season. We don’t begrudge other communities with hotter and more humid climate for their need of AC.
America unlike Europe is vast with many different climates. It’s a car dependent country because of the great distance involved in traveling. If you live in less populated places with little bus or no bus service, having access to a car is essential. I find this to be true in other countries as well.
I believe most Americans care greatly about the world and the environment, and they want clean air, water and access to both. Many Americans share similar frustrations that face many people across the globe: wage not keeping up with COL, inequity re: power and access, systemic corruption and grafts, the lost of control as the billionaire and now trillionaire class has supplanted the world order, becoming the master class.
It’s too bad people think attacking and demonizing 350 million people will fix their problems.
Sorry but she’s right
yes, she is. AC for everyone won’t solve the problem.
Definitely, it’s absurd how the rest of the world has to suffer because Americans won’t move with the times and decarbonise.
AC may be necessary in some cases, but it’s also like taking heroin to satisfy your heroin craving, it just makes things worse.
Also unlike boilers, most Europeans have never needed AC before, so your asking them to spend a lot of money installing these things at a time when the economy is awful due to Trump’s war.
Canadian here and she is 100% right. If the USA had lead the way on environmental issues decades ago, the world would be in a much different place right now. Instead, it is burning. The wealthy don’t care because it doesn’t affect them – but we are all wasting too much energy and water. Most of us in North America live in conditions that aren’t sustainable.
Thanks. Another Canadian here. I knew Celebitchies would sort this out and find the gray areas. It’s embarrassing how far behind Canada is in reducing emissions and ramping up the use of renewables. Where is even the encouragement for us to use more solar panels? We actually get enough sun for that. Why aren’t we more urgently harnessing our abundant wind power? Why is there so much sprawl around our cities? Why are we so frustratingly slow to improve transit, in our cities and between our far-flung provinces? I agree, life as we knew it is not sustainable — all of it — diet and agriculture, transportation, construction, industry, recreation… But politicians are short-term thinkers and people are in shock and denial. We need leadership and urgency. Paris has been a leader among ‘green’ cities, which means it has reduced its contributions to global warming. Should it have foreseen the need for more air conditioning? Of course. But what are the rest of us not doing that we could have foreseen? Sympathies for the many dead.
Canada is in the same bind as US in terms of environmental commitments. Its big exports of timber, LNG, tar sands oil, agricultural products speak to heavy fossil fuel reliance.
The entire economy of the world depends on cheap, and often time dirty energy.
Multinationals exist beyond countries. There was a lot of greenwashing going on when climate justice and pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was a global priority.
It didn’t take very long for Ukraine- Russia war and now Iran-Israel-US war to undo all those commitments. Immediate needs take precedence.
The French love to complain. It’s like a national pastime as my French grandmother would chide us with. AC of course isn’t the cure all fix, but can save lives during emergencies. But once you have AC, it’s hard to go back. Human nature adores comfort.
Yeah, she is. Our country has completely turned it’s back on climate change policy.
Y’all, this didn’t happen overnight; let’s take it back to the Industrial Revolution, which started where? England, wasn’t it?
So many things you can criticize us Americans for. This… is not one of them. There was a debate for weeks on Twitter over this issue. Yes Europeans, join us in air-conditioned bliss!
Most Europeans have never needed AC before so you’re asking us to spend a lot of money installing something we’ll only need a few weeks a year. On top of that the main reason we’ll need it in the future is because America is being selfish and not decarbonising.
That’s not bliss, it’s extortion.
Well the US is a large country- covering different climate variations. Italy has 56% of households with AC now. Wildfires new norm in Europe.
It’s way too easy to fault the US for climate change. China is a big contributor as is the EU as a bloc. Look at all the EU owned multinationals all over the world. Critical rare earth mining is pretty ugly and has huge human rights problems. Canada mining companies with projects all over the world (see Chile) have same challenges and dirty hands. One thing I look critically when Nordic nations and EU nations wag their finger with superiority is the costs of such wealth and to be envied supportive socialized living — wealth derived from past colonial empires, and presently till Trump, US mega military subsidizing the continent safety—to the tune of US taxpayers’ billions and bought US power Europeans have resented (rightly). Think if Europeans had to tax themselves for their own security protection, could they afford their generous social network? The German economy is foundering right now— where’s the money to meet the challenges?
But hey convenience comes at the cost of things.
It’s far too easy to look at the world simplistically where things are black and white with a bad guy and the rest, good guys. That’s how the US got Trump and the world, strongman governance.
Kit – that’s a lot of different arguments in one so I’ll try to respond to them all but forgive me if I miss some.
1. China is a big carbon producer but they are also installing more renewable energy quicker and at a bigger scale than anyone else in the world. Like Europe and lots of other places, they are at least trying. This is more than can be said for the USA, who with their data centres are going in the wrong direction.
2. Not only is the USA richer than Europe by far, but renewable energy is typically cheaper and more efficient than fossil fuels in the long run so I’m not sure there’s an argument that Europe (along with many other poorer countries) can afford to do this and the USA can’t.
3. Social care and universalised health care cost less per person than private health care, because they are a lot more efficient. And again, see point 2 regarding money.
4. I don’t really understand how European colonialism gives the USA a get out of jail free card for decarbonisation. It seems like whataboutism (not to mention the USA hardly has a virtuous history).
5. Its not all about fossil fuel generation, its also about consumption. Americans are the biggest consumers of fossil fuels and fossil fuel based products per head than any other country in the world. They’ve also done more than any other country to export this consumerist mentality through movies, TV, social media and trade agreements to the rest of the world, which is a big part of the reason we’re in this mess.
6. Even if none of the above was true, what is true is that the world is burning and we all have to decarbonise, including the USA and right now it is just not doing its part.
7. Europe really only needs one thing from the USA militarily – the promise to uphold article 5 of NATO. That doesn’t cost you anything and you don’t even need to mean it, just say it publicly. Yet Trump can’t even do that.
Also lets not pretend American hasn’t benefited hugely from making Europe militarily dependent on them, that didn’t happen out of the goodness of your hearts but because it was in America’s best interests. (BTW – the whole military argument also seems like whataboutism)
China announced its investment in wind and solar for energy independence and security and used that to look “green”. You bought the whole PR Holly but I don’t. Do your own research re: China big carbon footprint and not just in china, but outside it where it has big presence. I worked in Africa in the 90’s and saw its long term goals as I would hang out with chinese engineers at the few local eateries.
I just find this American bashing too convenient and allows for other industrialized countries to get away with their comfy lifestyles. If acknowledging the environmental, economic and societal devastations left by former colonizers as a false flag argument, then that’s on you.
From people who grow up in such places, they know first hand how legacies foster treatments today and disregard of their concerns (see: UK and France treatments of former colonies and the people with such ancestry who live in UK and France today.) The US has similar and different peculiar institutional legacies that affect huge groups in the US too. There’s no what about otherisms here. People live it. They have valid perspectives and experiences.
Anyway suggest you read the Guardian deeper dive re: EU carbon footprint that I linked further up.
I think it’s far more effective to fix your own life and find ways to improve that and your communities than fault whole country as if by doing so fixes anything. It brings far more division than unity in solving a global problem.
Holly the other big read I suggest is to look at agricolonism that’s going on in Africa and L. America by foreign countries — including those with lovely ESGs to claim their goodness by reducing carbon footprints.
There’s a shell game of greenwashing. I have a good friend who works for a Canadian mining company and her whole job is to write up the ESG to meet Canadian governmental regulations but the dirty secrets is it’s compliance on paper. That’s it. It’s de jure vs de facto
@Holly, I lived in London during the summer of 2001 and one of my favorite things about it was the weather! In all of the pictures, we’re all wearing long sleeves, and sometimes even jackets. In July! I live in NY where the humidity makes summers oppressive and miserable. But let’s hear more from the moronic climate change deniers.
Thanks Holley. As an American in Canada, I also want to put in a word about far down US public spaces set air conditioning, expending more energy than is needed for appropriately cool that saves lives but doesn’t require sweaters. Canada also uses air conditioning in public spaces and is setting laws for max temps in apartments, but it doesn’t make things freezing! The high-demand areas in the US will experience more brownouts and even blackouts due to the high electricity consumption. It’s not all bliss. There is a cost.
You know Americans pay for their electricity usage so all this freezing temps is a bit OTT. People don’t have the money for freezing temps. They are lucky if they don’t have to decide between utility bills and groceries and gas for their car (cause people who economize can’t just drop their gas engine car to buy electric car cause y’all are telling them to.
Perhaps many of you Americans/Canadians (shoutout to my Okanagan besties) here can afford freezing temps for your homes or go to your summer cabin or visit cooler climes, but from home visits that I make, many of the patients don’t have the means. They have fans and maybe a small AC unit in their bedroom. And for those with central AC, it’s definitely no where feeezing nor cold. It’s cool enough and people still run their fans.
Not sure why such stereotypes are being promoted but guess it makes people feel better about themselves for being so righteous.
Look at the size of American cars, houses, the huge RV’s being towed by giant pickups, boats, toys of the wealthy, of course we are culpable for climate change, we are a hugely entitled and wasteful society.
All of the examples you listed (especially our penchant for giant cars) are better examples than the AC.
The hope is for engineering that rapidly makes AC more energy-efficient. Conversion to heat pumps may help too. Massachusetts has indeed subsidized their use but not seeing this in the regions that need it most. Federal, top-down leadership is required.
@Penny, agreed. It’s ridiculous to see people like soccer moms driving freaking Hummers around town.
I live in Houston. How people managed to exist in this climate before AC is a mystery to me. The heat and humidity have always been brutal. Sure, they’ve gotten worse. But AC was needed 200 years ago just as it is now. People managed without it but were no doubt miserable (and malarial).
I get what she is saying but it’s a bad look right now. There is no use pointing fingers when people are suffering. It’s her job to make it better, not pass the buck. I read that some hospitals in Germany don’t even have AC, which is wild. You NEED it in a hospital even if heat waves are rare. Come on.
She is partially right. On the AC issue, we disagree though. I agree with Kaiser, AC is a necessity if it’s hot where you live. Asking people in Arizona or Nevada to turn the AC off is ridiculous and dangerous for them. But the US is a leader in greenhouse emissions – this is so much more than AC – and a lot of it has to do with livestock and farming. The mass bombings in the Middle East are an environmental disaster, there was black rain in Tehran for crying out loud.
These private jets are also massive polluters. Giant cruise ships are destroying the oceans and coral – they are the biggest ocean polluters around and yet, if I had a dollar for every time I run into someone who tells me they are going on a cruise. Sigh…
We as a populace, not just the US, are overwhelmingly selfish – it’s why we are in this mess. We need to ban the use the plastic bags like Rwanda did. We need massive cleanup of oceans and rivers. We need more people working remotely – less cars on the road. Covid did so much for the environment, all of our asses at home literally started to repair the ozone layer. We need to consume less meat.
Most importantly right now we should be pushing back on AI data centers, which are causing massive droughts all of the US. The US is running out of water, and what do you think will happen when this occurs? They will invade other countries to steal their water beginning with Canada. We don’t need AI and mass surveillance. We don’t need it. Billionaires have presented it like it’s this get on the train or get left behind thing – that is complete BS.
But why were cities in AZ designed to require so much driving? When Arizona was predictably going to be one of the most impacted regions in earth by climate change, why was so much suburban sprawl zoned? AZ could have had so many green communities and walkable neighborhoods like the U of A district. But no. We’ve allowed oil companies to dictate America urban planning and drive up – literally – greenhouse emissions.
AC is a necessity to survive in many places. But France didn’t build an entire culture around oil consumption. So they have every right to call out those of us who did.
This is @MightyMolly, indeed, you are correct! “France didn’t build an entire culture around oil consumption,” as we did in the US — France built an energy infrastructure around nuclear power, which is much cheaper, more reliable, and does not require period conflict in the Middle East, and does not cause any damage to the Ozone layer through greenhouse gas emissions. So you avoid war abroad, boom and bust cycles at home, and planetary meltdown. Could Americans have tried this? Why, yes, we invented it. We developed the technology. Then we used it to bomb people and build up massive arsenals. Kennedy said, we have to kill these weapons before they kill us. We did something else — we kept building the weapons, and used them to back up threats to invade other countries in search of oil, which we burn, which is choking the planet. She does have a point.
I mean yes and no. France is ranked the 14th largest consumer of oil which is fairly high for a European country–they’re not Norway or Iceland in terms of utilizing renewable energy. That being said, they’re not anywhere near as car-dependent as we are and your point about terrible urban planning is fundamental to the larger argument. For instance, European countries are not covered in the capitalistic hellholes that are stroads, which cause severe, localized air, noise, and run-off pollution. Their cities are designed to disincentivize car usage and encourage alternate forms of transportation. They don’t generally have cul-de-sac neighborhoods full of new-builds because they understand the importance of flow, accessibility, and building residential communities around town squares and commercial districts.
We have a lot to learn from other countries but it’s really hard to break the American addiction to driving everywhere.
Well hate to break it to you Kitten but as much as I love France, the US is a big country. When European friends visit, they all rent a car if they want to travel to see the national parks or travel around the region. BTW, unless they live in the cities, my European and UK friends/family all own at least 1 vehicle. Several own camper vans to vacation around the continent.
As for Canada, it’s the same. I visit family in BC and New Brunswick and they own multiple vehicles. Like big trucks and SUVs. Try riding your road bike on the roads thru Vancouver Island and it’s crazy scary among logging trucks, vans, RVs and cars.
Just saying grass isn’t always so green on the other side.
The suburbs are why there’s so much driving required. As the population grew, the sprawl did with it because cities remained the primary economic centers. I do think part of the problem is that a lot of Europeans really don’t grasp how large countries like the US and China really are, along with the size of the population. Even including all of Russia, Europe is only 130,000km larger the US – and while Russia is massive, it also only has about 40% of the US population and a little over a 10th of China and India’s population. The population is spread out precisely because there’s just a lot of country to spread out to. The cities should definitely have better transit systems and are decades behind doing so, but there are a lot of places where roads are legitimately the only real option.
3/4 of the housing in Paris is covered by zinc roofs…while they make a charming old world picturesque view…zinc is a HEAT ACCELERATOR 🥵 adding 20+ degrees to already sweltering buildings…which 😱💔
Hey, do you have a link or source for “it takes more energy (and it’s more expensive) to heat a home in winter than cool it down with AC in summer” so I can show it to some of my a-hole family members? I’m not disagreeing or doubting you cause I have epilepsy – seizures can & will kill me more quickly than most other people of my age & general condition if I get too hot (like a power outage during a heatwave). I know heat is far more dangerous that most physically healthy neurotypical people can understand, so having data & supporting sources when I have this conversation IRL really helps. (bc I know arguing online doesn’t usually change any minds and try to avoid it, though posting well-sourced proof to support my opinion makes me feel better).
I’ll still DuckDuckGo the answer (I gave up google searches when they went fully AI & became fully useless to me), but if someone has a link handy I’d love to see & read it.
i’m not sure if you can post links here, but this is from the MIT climate portal. the header so you can search that if the link doesn’t work: Globally, heating creates much more climate pollution than air conditioning, and that’s often true at the level of a single building too. But emissions from air conditioning are rising faster.
link: https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/does-heating-or-cooling-our-buildings-contribute-more-climate-change
@Angie: if you use Chrome for your browser you can adjust your settings to disable the AI results when you google. But if DuckDuckGo works for you, no biggie!
@Beanie, thank you! I didn’t know that and the automatic AI results drive me insane.
Is there room for an argument that says, it’s not that straightforwardly about AC or no AC? We use it when we have to – or can afford it. Energy prices in the US are very low, compared to Europe. We think energy is a valuable commodity not to be wasted, hence the price. Obviously it is different in the US. Take Las Vegas. Who in their right minds would build something like Las Vegas. Your carbon footprint is 13 to 17 metric tons per capita, European is at about 11 metric tons / capita and sinking. Insofar I don’t think you can school us.
We are, of course, doing our best to keep our vulnerable neighbors safe, including installing AC. So, please get off your moral middle class America high horse and stop pretending your way is the only way. I am repeating myself, maybe, but nowhere in mainland France is south of Maine latitude wise. We built to keep us warm for centuries, many of us are living in buildings that are older than your country.
Think about it, before you insult
your European readership .
WORD!!!
This!!!!
Huzzah! That tendency of people in the US to think everyone is like them and theirs is the best/only way of life is … irritating to say the least.
American here, and IMO we have absolutely no business criticizing any other country for anything at this particular moment considering our situation. I mean.
@Lorelai, I disagree. Why should allowed criticism be based on national origin? what is this? original sin? Are Americans a hive or can people have different opinions? Why should responsible people who live modestly, act with conscience re the environment be tarred and feathered? The people who recycle, reuse, and don’t buy new things because SM dictates it are condemned because they are Americans ? Wow. So only Europeans and Chinese are great environmentalists?
The US has many faults but to say it is singularly responsible for climate change (along with rampant consumerism) plays into the disinformation game.
If US is to carry the sole guilt, then by all means, the world should take a stand and ostracize it to fix climate change. Don’t come to America and ban Americans abroad. Stop buying US resources, weapons, products, food, stop adopting its tech advances and culture (we are all uncultured hicks anyway and look we produced Meghan). Stop using USD and adopt the Chinese yuan. Go for it if that solves what ails you and your country.
I wrote something like that, but your words are way better than mine!
I survived the Paris heatwave and live to tell the tale. It was brutal.
The subject of air-conditioning is becoming more and more political (like abortion on the US) and honestly both right and left are not serving the public’s best interest. Yes, schools and hospital need air-conditioning, the elderly and people with heart conditions need them too. No, Paris cannot magically rid itself of all of its zinc roofs, plant trees on side streets and institute an air-conditioning unit in each apartment or studio as a human right. A lot of buildings don’t have lifts as well.
As for the “let’s blame the US for our problems part”. Yes, she is exaggerating, but she is not completely wrong either. There seems to be a noticeable shift in how Americans are perceived in Europe. The heat was not easy on anyone, but it was the hardest for the people who were living in the city and had to go to work and take care of their loved ones, yet the people to complain were American tourists.
I read a lot of science fiction back in the 60s and 70s (think Asimov and the Foundation trilogy) and a recurring theme was how the earth was no longer habitable in the future. It didn’t seem possible then but as we hear natural catastrophes becoming more prevalent, it’s not so unbelievable.
Yup, that’s the “science” part of science fiction. Predicted and predictable. The fiction part is how humanity responds.
@WhoAreThesePeople, I love that description!
I have to agree that this is bigger than just ACs. We, in the US, have chosen to develop our country and a certain way of life that is incredibly wasteful when it comes to resources like water and energy. The Europeans are currently enduring a heatwave and we in the US get wildfires, hurricanes, and tornadoes, all of which are getting worse. So, we Americans need to stay off our high horses.
I don’t think she’s wrong at all. The United States has been an outlier for decades now in regards to green policies. And under Trump, the motto has been “drill baby drill“. Even China is making more efforts towards clean air and clean energy. And all of this affects the global environment.
I love what China is doing in terms of renewable energy and scaling back fossil fuel dependence but it’s not enough to offset their 13B tons of annual CO2 emissions.
What I find really sad is that while China is the largest annual polluter, the United States remains the largest cumulative historical contributor of emissions since 1751. 🙁
What a reputation to have…..
China’s PR machine has been spinning to great effect, given Trump. Very smart of them.
China’s Great Leap Forward came at ginormous global costs as all empires.
It’s a fool game to want to replicate China’s success because it’s an opaque country. Facts are hard to verify and its society very controlled at all level, even for emigres abroad.
People forget just like other multi-nationals regardless if they are owned by US, Sweden, Japan, France or Canada, China, they all leave huge carbon footprints with their factories, mining, etc. Look to water pollution from mining by Chinese companies of the Mekong R. So many wealthy countries have polluted and left economic and environmental wastelands in poorer countries.
BTW, let’s count European empires and the messy legacies they left behind. Wars are till being fought over those legacies.
So please enough about bashing Americans as a whole. It deserves much derision, but if people refused to acknowledge their own comfy lifestyle as being just as complicit, then you are just as much a hypocrite and correct. It’s out of a jingoistic playbook. FWIW, many Americans can’t afford a European vacation, much less own a passport.
She’s not wrong, but not completely right either. But LoL at her job being deputy mayor of Paris for international relations, on social media and lashing out at a whole country. Hilarious
The US has made itself an easy target.
When it comes to AC, I think most of us would love to have AC in our homes but, unfortunately, there’s so much more that comes into play.
Yes, there’s obviously the environment issue but I’m not even sure this is the main reason we don’t install AC?
AC is electricity-consuming. I pay 200€ of electricity each month for my small 90-square-metre home. Petrol has become crazy and even if the prices have gone down, I still put about 150€ each month to fill my car (and I don’t drive crazy). Do I need that extra AC on my electricity bill? I really don’t want to / can’t afford it.
And I think lots of people feel the same. Is it worth installing AC “only” for a few days/weeks?
I live in Lyon, which is further south than Paris, and people now get AC installed because it’s usually hotter than in Paris and because the new constructions allow it. But downtown, it’s impossible to install AC in the old buildings, same in Paris or any city with an old city centre. Plus, about 40% of the French population don’t own their place, which makes it difficult to install AC.
In Europe, we’re also quite conscious on the fact that ressources must not be wasted. We litteraly have an ongoing war on our continent which truly impacts us Europeans. Because of the war in Ukraine, there was a risk of gas-shortage during winter a few years ago, there was also a risk of electricity shortage during a heat wave 2 years ago so the stores had to turn OFF their AC… Ukraine produces lots of cereals we use in Europe as well… So all of that makes us conscious that ressources are not endless and we need to waste less.
Many Americans might think we are backward, but it just shows a lack of knowledge/ understanding Europe. I mean, the history of our continent has taught us not to be wasteful of ressources and to cherish them. However different we are, us Europeans have all had to deal with the lack of ressources in our history, even in the recent years.
To finish about France (because that’s where I’m from), I’m a teacher and I’ve been teaching in +35°C for about 2 weeks now: do I wish they’d put AC in my classroom? Obviously yes! Can the government afford it? I’m not sure of that.
Not having AC everywhere here might seem “exotical” and “amusing” for many Americans, but France is not just the Carte Vitale and la Fete de la Musique: many people struggle to make ends meet and that’s the reality of it.
‘I mean, the history of our continent has taught us not to be wasteful of resources and to cherish them.’
Oh, goodness! Y’all went to other continents & robbed them of their resources!
The USA are utility hogs.
People lived for how long before AC was a thing?
A long time.
It is not natural. It’s a convenience.
And the USA makes everything worse.
I didn’t grow up with air-conditioning–in our houses or cars–and didn’t live in a place with air-conditioning until my middle years when I moved to the Deep South, Georgia, to be specific. Georgia, where it gets to be 98 degrees F + 100% humidity in the summers. Yes, people lived there before the invention of air-conditioning, but the rich people traveled high to the mountains or up north to New England or to other countries while the poor stay behind & suffered and/or died from heat stroke. It’s not a convenience, it’s a life-saver. Air conditioning made the South livable.
I’m an American from a warm part of the US but I have to say the heating vs cooling argument depends on the type of heating. In Sweden where I live now , we use circulating warm water radiators to keep ambient temp. up and then wear a sweater. My electricity bill is 1/2 of what it costs for me to run the AC all July. Luckily almost all of our electricity comes from green sources but that’s not the case everywhere. So I wouldn’t be so glib in response to what the minister said.
Dear French people and others:
F-Off! I’m not giving up my a/c for any of you and really don’t give a damn how you feel about it.
Signed-
A US Citizen
👏 I mentioned this the other day, but I lived briefly in the Fresno area where we started getting triple digit weather in MARCH & the temps were still in the 90s at the 11 o’clock at night. Better believe I used my air-conditioning.
The idea that people who live in places with infrastructure that they did not build and cannot afford to move away from should simply die for the greater good doesn’t seem like a great way forward for anyone. Including people in the US. 🤷♀️
Agree.
She isn’t entirely wrong. The US has been grossly irresponsible in terms of the climate, and so have other countries as well. But her comments are not going to solve the problem until people get their homes air-conditioned, and many can’t afford it. Her comments are probably more a reflection of general disgust with Trump’s US.
Y’all. Can we move past who is to blame (hint – it’s everyone) and start thinking about ways to survive what is coming? To be clear, this has been coming for decades, 70,000 Europeans died in the 2003 heat wave, and from what I can tell your governments have done fuck all since then to prepare. Heat waves have always happened, but going forward they are going to happen more often, be hotter, and last longer. Accept that now and start making plans.
Is there one solution for this? No. Will it cost money to mitigate the worst effects? Absolutely. Will some Europeans have to change how they live for a few weeks a year? Probably. Will they complain about greedy Americans when they do? Bring it on… I’m happy to be called a villain…as long as you do something to save lives! Who knows, maybe German innovation will come up with an amazing energy efficient invention that blows traditional AC out of the water and you can rub our noses in your superiority for another half century.
I live in one of the northernmost cities in the lower 48. Long summer days, high humidity, the lowest AC ownership rate in the country, high electricity rates, houses that weren’t built to be cool, etc etc etc. I know all the arguments, I’ve used them. Summer days almost never got hot enough to justify anything more than a fan. That changed a few years ago, and is only worsening. I can’t afford central air (but I am absolutely saving up for it). In the meantime I have a small portable unit that I use a few weeks a year. I hate it, and my electric bill goes up in the summer, but I use it just enough to make sleeping possible on the hottest nights. Even a few hours a day makes the difference between being miserable and merely uncomfortable.
That’s what we are talking about here when we say AC. The bare minimum that makes extreme heat events survivable. No one is saying Europe needs to adopt an Arizona or Las Vegas level of aircon, and those that jump straight to that when they object frankly sound deliberately obtuse, or just plain idiotic.
Dara for the win!!! You are spot on! Thank you for posting this!
Aww, thanks. 🥰
I agree that this a nuanced subject and Europeans need to do more to adapt to the the increasing affects of climate change.
I would just say that the reason why you’ll find so many Europeans (in this comment thread and outside of it) reacting badly when told to get AC by Americans is because its a little hard to take climate change advice from a country that has done more than anyone else in history to generate fossil fuels, consume carbon based products and export that consumerist attitude to the rest of the world, and yet is doing less than nothing to decarbonise.
So yes, if we react a little bit angrily and irrationally when talking about this stuff to Americans is because its a bit like hearing your heroin dealer tell you that the answer to a horrible come down is to buy more heroin.
Holly, I get it, truly. I look at how we as a country over-consume and tear through our environment and I despair for the future. I see people still moving in droves to places that already are on the verge of being unlivable and I cannot understand how they don’t see what is coming for them.
But please know that a lot of us are trying to make things better, and we have made progress in our use of renewables (don’t listen to the orange man). We are behind the rest of the world, but we are trying. Even Texas, for all its oil loving nonsense, now generates 30% of its electricity using wind power. My state is closer to 60% from renewables. The kicker is a lot of that is from hydro-electric, and we just don’t get the rain/snow amounts we used to. Losing our main source of power and drinking water is terrifying to think about, but I fear it’s coming.
Honestly I refuse to cower. Yes a lot of America has too much AC. Families like mine existed with the bare minimum until it came to be too much and we got wall units. That’s hardly summoning the devil.
Aircon or lack thereof has become a giant health crisis. France needs to catch up or keep watching their population die.
I truly don’t understand why buying a small window unit is so onerous. You don’t run it 24/7 anyway.
I live in Texas, where vulnerable populations die without AC. They also die when our energy grid inevitably collapses during the first big freeze because our Republican legislature has allowed for unfettered energy privatization to the detriment of its constituents, but I digress.
Wow! Air conditioning is what made the South livable! And Kaiser is right, it’s the elderly & very young who suffer the most from this kind of heat. Shame on them thinking their elders are expendable.
What a passive putain. I sweated through the heatwaves of 03 and 04, when thousands in France died. It’s happening again. Global warming is a real thing and we have all contributed to it. Think about A/C as public policy or te faire foudre. I’m so done with these idiots
She’s not wrong.
If they’re not going to adopt air-conditioning, they will have to change their architecture (like traditional architecture in desert environments), so that people can last longer indoors in the heat. The trade-off will be what happens when it gets cold.
Very interesting to see the US as a country sort of become an international villain in the 21st Century much like Germany was in the 20th Century. Too bad the people who put that orange thing in power are incapable of feeling shame.
The US absolutely holds responsibility for its role in greenhouse emissions (and since we have some of the worst weather in the world, we will pay for it, mark that), but the lack of A/C retrofitting in parts of Europe strikes me more as a lot of officials not taking the threat seriously. They even had the option, if they didn’t want to retrofit, to reduce restrictions on portables, which is what a lot of American regions allow in places that don’t really require it year-round. They had warnings as far back as the mid-2010s that temperatures were on the rise and a lot more resources to address it early, unlike a lot of the non-industrialized nations that have to weather the coming storm sans stable government. I fear a lot more are going to suffer as a result of the mass denial many have about the seriousness of the situation.