France will experience many more heatwaves and some will be even more severe than the last one, which was historic. To cope, we need to get organized collectively – without giving up the fight to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, Le Monde’s climate expert writes.
1/Take a serious look back at the recent episode
At this stage, given the exhaustion and bitterness we are experiencing, the first thing to do is take a look back at what happened. What we’ve just gone through is physically and psychologically tough, and it’s important to document it right away. That’s the advice of Alexandre Florentin, former Paris adviser and adaptation specialist, who led a mission titled “Paris at 50 Degrees.”
His idea: gather with your family, neighbors, colleagues, or classmates and methodically debrief, following the “Four Fs” method: feelings (what I felt), facts (what happened), findings (what I learned) and future (what we can do going forward). The goal of this method is to remember precisely what took place, as everything will conspire to make us forget the intensity of the heatwave. And write everything down, so it can be useful next time!
The French Red Cross also encourages everyone to prepare a “Catakit,” an emergency bag ready for climate disasters. It includes a flashlight, a radio, canned food, an emergency blanket and more. Find the complete list here.
Probably install robust and efficient A/C in public spaces capable of handling many people so they have somewhere safe to go if they can’t afford it on their own, better post the dangers of unsupervised waters, and so on. It’s also easy to grow complacent later in the year as it gets cooler and think this was just a freak accident but probably something at least as bad as this will be back soon so don’t let up and when less people are interested in the colder months is a good time to keep installing but more cost-effectively and with less delays.