With high morality, we look at the number of deaths by gun violence in the States and bask in the moral high ground we claim here. They just need to forbid assault weapons! Right?
Meanwhile, an equal number of heat-related deaths in Europe leads only to fake alarmism and dangerously inadequate “heat tips” in the German media — like closing windows, hanging wet towels, etc. These tips are deadly.
We just need to install ACs in hospitals, schools, and elderly homes to save countless lives, to let the elderly live better lives, to help children think clearly while learning.
Heat is directly linked to mental performance and sleep. Yet we simply accept that kids in attic flats have worse opportunities — because we think ACs are ugly.
A life-changing device that costs just 400€, beloved in the Global South because it brings prosperity, is hated by Germans — because we are cavemen.
Hating and hindering AC is an attack on the weakest in our society, often carried out by those with houses, basements, north-facing apartments, gardens, cars, and weekend plans — people who can escape the worst heat whenever they wish.
If heating were invented today in Germany, we’d probably still sit with ushankas around a fireplace in January and mourn cold-related deaths as unpreventable tragedies.