How extreme heat is exposing extreme inequality

The climate crisis and worsening disparity could be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths a year in Europe, which should set off alarm bells for policymakers

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Call it a tale of two heatwave experiences.

As brutally hot conditions brought much of western Europe to its knees, an American writer living in Paris asserted that, for many, the heat was not “nearly as apocalyptic” as most media were suggesting. He said he had yet to buy a fan, instead relying on closed shutters, misting sessions and open windows in the evening to keep his ground-level flat cool.