rifa:
If Canada don’t GET THE FUCK …
lmao
There are now more than 90 people dead. You can bitch and whine that’s it’s hotter where you are, but you have to understand that it’s the elderly, homeless and small children who don’t have air conditioning and are susceptible to health problems. How fucking despicable can you be to just laugh at people dying because temperatures are hotter where you are. Our infrastructure was built to withstand -30 C°, not the heat. It’s not about how Canadians are “weak”, it’s literally just shitty circumstances.
Not to mention that people who are accustomed to cold climates have a physically more difficult time coping with temperatures that their bodies aren’t used to. Also a lot of people who have never had to cope with hotter temperatures aren’t as familiar with heat exhaustion or heat stroke, don’t know how to manage the heat safely , etc!
That last point.
Denmark is currently in its hottest summer ever recorded, and the number of people I’ve talked to who have only now discovered what a heat stroke is amazes me, because I grew up in the South of France where summers are hot as fuck every year – my brother-in-law went out for a bike ride without a hat and with a half a liter of water for three hours and came back and was sick because of it.
The idea that he’d get sick because of the sun didn’t even OCCUR to him, because in his 30+ years on this green ball swirling through space, it’s never been an issue for him.
In the South of France, most cafés have mist sprayers and all shops / malls are air-conditioned. In Denmark, most cafés do NOT have mist sprayers (but heat lights!) and the shops are not always air-conditioned.
Most of the warehouses have been out of portable air-conditioners and fans on an off since May because people are hot and have no air-condition installed. The buildings are built to keep heat IN. Not out.
No air con, buildings designed to keep heat in, not even ceiling fans, no drinking fountains, windows that don’t open in buildings, and we expect people to work in those buildings, in their full uniform which has no ‘hot weather’ option – I mean what employer is going to provide short sleeves and shorts for that one week every three years where it gets above 25/80 degrees? – windows that don’t open on public transport, and often no shade while waiting for said public transport, we have heaters and insulation and draft excluders, we buy black cars and dark clothes, we buy sunscreen for our holidays in Spain, then forget where we put it, when we find it and apply it we sweat it off again because we’re not used to the heat, we walk places rather than drive and even if we drove, our cars don’t have proper air con and we don’t have covered parking, school playgrounds and public parks have no shade, people don’t have pools so kids play out all summer in the heat. We don’t have ‘American style’ large fridges or freezers with ice makers and they break down when competing with hotter than usual ambient temperature, most of us don’t even own cool boxes – or if we do it’s at the back of the shed full of spiders.
So yes, we have to be told it’s going to be hot. And we have to be warned to check our elderly neighbours and to help them take the blankets off their bed or to swap to a summer duvet, to suggest they have a cold drink instead of a pot of tea and take off their cardigan.
Because we only know people who got sunstroke on their holidays abroad.
And we have never in our lives known anyone who died from the heat.
To anybody who thinks it’s funny when people die, you can go fuck off a tall bridge.
I live in Phoenix. It’s going to be 115F/46C degrees today. This is nothing unusual for this time of year. And yet every year we lose people to the heat. I can’t imagine what super temps must be like when you are not used to it. England, Quebec, and most of Europe’s home were designed to keep heat in. Not let it out. So instead of giggling like evil children over someone else’s horror, try being a little more understanding at the very least of what they are going through.
I live in BC and my entire (very nice) apartment building has literally no air conditioning in the entire building. If I want to cool off I have to use a fan. There’s literally no infrastructure for this kind of heat.
As an Australian, I sympathise with this sort of heat and the buildings not built for it and the lack of air conditioning because that’s pretty much large sections of Australia too. Except for up north, where it gets hot and humid, we don’t really build for extreme heat, mostly because it gets cold in the winter. Not freezing cold but single digits (celsius) cold and no one wants a drafty house in the cold.
But! Some advice that may help (from someone who does not have air conditioning in their flat):
– Sheets! Get the blankets and doonas off your bed. They’ll be too hot. Get yourselves some low count cotton sheets, both fitted and loose sheets. I mean, like 300 count or lower. If you can get as low as 150, all the better. Trust me, those low count cotton sheets are way cooler than any high count fancy shit. And it’s actually better to sleep under a sheet than with nothing on top of you, even when it’s hot. Why low count? The weave is looser so they breathe better.
– This is going to sound a bit counter-productive but once the sun is up, close up your house, especially if you have concrete or brick paving immediately outside it. If you have grass, you’re better off but if not, close the doors and windows. Concrete, brick and all that stuff radiates heat like a bitch and you want to keep that heat out of your house. Though this does kind of require you to have some sort of fans inside otherwise it can get a bit stifling. Also, if the wind is hot, close those windows and doors until it’s hotter in the house than outside, then surrender to it and open things up again. This is a bit of a balancing act, I’ll admit, especially once the day really warms up. You just have to try it a bit and see what works best for your house and surroundings.
– This next bit works better if you have screens on your windows and screen doors (and I’m not sure how prevalent that is in Europe) but the moment the sun dips below the horizon? Open up the house and if you have screens on your windows and lockable screen doors? Leave ‘em open all night. It’s the best time to cool things down in preparation for the next day.
– Wear loose, light clothing. I know it’s all fashionable to wear those tight, fitted shirts and whatever but you’re just making yourself hot. Wear loose shirts, wear skirts, wear loose trousers or shorts, preferably in light fabrics, cotton if you can get it. Why? Air flow! Why is air flow important? Evaporation! You want that sweat to evaporate because that helps cool your body. Also wear a hat. Please, wear a hat. A broad brimmed hat. If you keep the sun off your face, the top of your head and the back of your neck, you’ll lower your risk of heat stroke.
– DRINK LOTS OF WATER! I cannot emphasise this enough. Lay off the booze too while you’re at it. It doesn’t really help. (Says the Australian! Heh. :D) Drink lots of water though or stuff with water in it, like cordial or gatorade. In the heat, if you’re thirsty? It’s already too late. You’re already dehydrated and you don’t want that.
– Put a bowl of ice cubes or just cold water (though ice cubes work better) in front of a fan. It cools the air a little and that helps. Or wet tea towels, throw them over the fan. Has the same effect.
– Stick wet face towels in the freezer and when they’re frozen, place them on the back of your neck and under your armpits (and if you’re game enough, in your groin, though EEEEE! That’s COLD!!!! :D). This can be very helpful if someone is showing the first signs of heat stroke or heat exhaustion.
And… if you are game to spend money then I would personally recommend the evaPolar personal coolers. They’re not going to cool your entire house but they will create a little bubble of cooler air around you and I’ve found them very effective even in the hottest weather in Australia. They’re also wonderful to have at night. I put mine on my bedside table. They’re pretty quiet and they won’t be the electricity suck that normal air conditioning can be. They can even run off your computer!
A Force Sensitive Phasesixer 