Saturday, August 15, 2026

Climate Denial Killing Still More People

New York Times, today: "In One Week During Europe’s Record Heat Wave, Deaths Increased by 16,000." (Should be a free article, or you might need to first get a free NY Times account.)


There are all excess deaths, not just those from heat. So the spikes in excess deaths in November to January are due to respiratory illnesses such as the flu. There were 25,000 heat deaths earlier there this summer, so this makes 41,000 at least. Over 30,000 in India. (I wrote a recent Phys.org article about India.) 

NYT: "Most of the deaths were in northern countries — France, Belgium and Germany — that are not accustomed to such high temperatures and struggled to respond."

France is debating ("bickering") air conditioning. It doesn't help that they love their old buildings built in the Little Ice Age. 

Of course, A/C doesn't stop wildfires. Future people may be stuck in air-conditioned houses and apartments wearing masks because of all the wildfire smoke, unable to buy home insurance since the insurance companies have left that market (as they are in Florida, partly due to rising hurricane costs).

It's too bad no one foresaw all these problems several decades ago--we might have taken actions to stall the problem. 

It's now clear that climate denial -- and climate deniers -- kill people. Lots of people. Where are the prosecutors?

No comments: