It’s too darn hot across the pond, but Europe’s ruling elites have decided that to remain holier than thou their people need to forgo grubby, American air conditioning.
That’s the talk of the internet this Fourth of July week as much of Western Europe recovers from a hellacious heat wave that has claimed the lives of thousands of people.
Europeans are burning up in a hell of their own making, yet somehow, some way, they found a way to blame America for their troubles.
Paris Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar just couldn’t take all the snide comments from Americans comfortably posting and meme-ing on their couches in cool, 72-degree air from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
“Dear American journalists and social media ‘influencers’: for days, some of you have been criticizing and making fun of Paris because the city does not have A/C in every room. OMG, this is so rich!” she posted on Instagram on Friday.
I’d really like to know which meme set her off. I hope it was this one.
Pulvar’s ranting at those bully Americans with their abominable, newfangled air conditioning units invented in 1902 continued.
“As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, you bear a significant amount of responsibility for global warming and the consequences we, in France, are experiencing,” she wrote. “Your cities ‘90% air-conditioned’ are not unrelated to this. In Paris, we take responsibility.”
Are they really taking “responsibility” when their insane policies get thousands of people killed during summer heatwaves? Far more than those killed by gun violence in the U.S., a topic they frequently like to harp on.
Instead of considering that little complication, Europe’s ruling class has decided to put blinders on and ignore the misery of their people so they can “save” the planet.
They really do tell themselves that suffering through summer will make heat waves go away.
Now, some have argued that the European aversion to air conditioning is just a product of there being so many old buildings and all that. That may have some part to play, but from the reaction of Pulvar and many others to the criticism it’s clear that this is about something much more existential and emotional.
Underneath all the other reasons Europeans forgo air conditioning, you have what amounts to a moral, even religious imperative.
The larger European aversion to air conditioning is akin to a kind of secular religious dogma, collectively enforced. And the European Left is particularly zealous on this front, of course.
What’s particularly absurd about the European anti-air conditioning attitude is that even accounting for their religious aversion to producing carbon emissions, A/C units are the tiniest of concerns on that front.
They really want to tell themselves that heat waves and summers didn’t exist before Americans messed everything up and that by collectively suffering, they can heal the climate wounds of the whole world.
The problem with this narrative they tell themselves is that the heat problem has struck Europe many times before and will strike many times more if every A/C in the world disappears tomorrow.
I remember the brutal summer of 2003 when tens of thousands of people died across Europe. It was awful, and tragic.
The answer to this would have been to make widespread air conditioner use a priority as it was in America.
The Wall Street Journal noted that widespread adoption of air conditioning in homes has accounted for most of the decline in “hot-day-related fatalities” since the 1960s.
We had a problem and we solved it. Now it’s Europe’s turn. Drop the absurd regulations. Make air conditioning more available and thus much cheaper for regular people to acquire.
Sure, other suicidal European policies come into play, like the restrictionist energy policies that made them reliant on Russia for energy needs. But if they had more homes with air conditioning they would at least have the choice to keep cool in times of great need.
Unfortunately, they haven’t changed and here we are. But I’d like to strike a note of optimism.
Much like on the immigration and speech issues that now bedevil much of Europe, I think most Americans want them to finally get this right, if only to make summer European vacations a lot more pleasant.
And maybe now is the right time for a change. After all, thousands of regular people from all over Europe are visiting the U.S. for the World Cup. Some seem to be amazed about the nice people and nice things they’ve encountered here, including the air conditioning blasting in literally every building.
OK, maybe we take things a little too far on that front, but I’ll bet there are more than a few European visitors who’d like to bring at least half of our A/C obsession back home with them. And they should. Many lives depend on it.
