World News: France Swelters Under Early Summer Heatwave

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Tuesday, 23 June 2026 11:20

Written by Olivier Longhi

Nearly 60 people, 40 from drowning and 18 others, including two children, from heat stroke have died in France, as an early summer heat wave continues to drive temperatures to record numbers with no relief in sight.

The heat wave that is hitting France and Europe raises questions about both its duration and its extent. But above all, it pushes us to question the imperative adaptations that our societies will have to make, the costs they will generate and the economic priorities they will impose.

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To say that the thermometers are running out of control and that the temperatures are exceptionally high is an understatement. But beyond the figure of speech, a cruel reality is imposed: we are in no way prepared for such temperatures, which are expected to be the climate norm in the years to come, i.e. in the next decade.

Prepared does not mean psychologically ready, although adaptation to global warming (because it is indeed global warming) also goes through this stage, but prepared implies materially adapted to future temperatures. The models are now clear: Europe in particular and the world as a whole, including the Poles, will see their temperatures rise significantly from April onwards and remain at high levels until October, i.e. six months of the year, transforming the seasonal cycle from four seasons to two seasons, a dry season and a cold season.

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Rivers and Feeding

But to return to the question of equipment, it will not be enough to paint buildings and roofs white, to install air conditioners at all costs (which also implies increasing the number of nuclear power plants themselves located near rivers or streams that are disrupted in the summer...), to green walls or cities to solve the climate issue as if by magic.

One thing is clear: in the years to come, we will only be able to manage the effects of climate change and no longer influence it. However, this management will require considerable efforts not on a local scale, which is useless and without consequences, but on a global scale, which is more relevant and more effective.

It will therefore be necessary to question our agriculture, our lifestyles, our water management (goodbye to the suburban swimming pool), our food, our travels... And even the school rhythms and even the content of the eponymous programs. It is not a challenge facing humanity, it is its survival. If we had to measure the efforts to be made, the construction standards for residential buildings alone would have to be reviewed, not necessarily to limit heat loss, but the opposite! How to keep a building cool.

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Renovation

On an urban scale, the overwhelming majority of buildings were built between 1850 and the 1990s, a period during which the climate was still, and rightly, considered temperate. The renovation project therefore promises to be pharaonic, both in terms of its scale and the costs it will generate.

If there is still time for anything, it is certainly to develop long-term adaptation policies and to include them in the agendas of public spending, and therefore in the conduct of the State. Because climate change will also have an impact, and not the least, on public finances, forcing them to review their economic priorities. The adaptation of schools alone is prohibitive, if the current rhythms were to be affected.

But what cost would be generated if its rhythms were modified? The question is being asked, but not only at the level of national education but of an entire planet. Because the conclusion is implacable: we will have to review everything, absolutely everything, if we simply want to survive.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently a professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist and recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, was a press and publishing consultant, and was a communications consultant.