To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
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@ApostateEnglishman
I'm just so sorry to see people having to go through this. Because I know how utterly unprepared most Northern Europeans are, and the infrastructure isn't built for it either.I do worry - especially for older people and children. They are very vulnerable.
@Remittancegirl Yeah. Those accustomed to these conditions forget that acclimatisation doesn't happen overnight. Europeans aren't being wimps when they say they're suffering; thousands of heat-related deaths aren't folks spontaneously expiring from lack of stoicism!
A sudden temperature spike is dangerous for nearly all animals and plants. Also, UK homes in particular are literal heat traps by design, and have no air conditioning.
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@Remittancegirl Yeah. Those accustomed to these conditions forget that acclimatisation doesn't happen overnight. Europeans aren't being wimps when they say they're suffering; thousands of heat-related deaths aren't folks spontaneously expiring from lack of stoicism!
A sudden temperature spike is dangerous for nearly all animals and plants. Also, UK homes in particular are literal heat traps by design, and have no air conditioning.
️@ApostateEnglishman Exactly this.
I remember getting more than a few expat employees through their first month or so. It's really hard on the body, but also, mentally hard.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl relevant to 1: deep slow breathing.
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz
It's shit for the environment anyway. That's the thing the AC freaks pass by. You're just making everyone else hotter.
Open a fucking window, build your houses for heat and with water features, keep the shutters closed, and drink cold drinks!
Islamic countries know how to do this, it's an ancient art.
@radioclash @vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz I remember when I was in Egypt and Jordan, "American-style" AC blasting straight arctic temperatures was super common there over ten years ago. Not everyone there lives in a historic building (most people in Cairo live in 20th century built high rises), and climate change has made it so that the historic buildings' passive heating systems are often overwhelmed
The good news is that heat pump ACs are actually reasonably environmentally friendly.
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz 'on sunny days' is doing some heavy lifting here.
Do you know how many those there are in the UK? Not a lot. More nowadays, but most of the year, it's dull and grey.
@radioclash @vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz The point is that sunny days are when folks need the AC the most.
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@vriesk Actually, I think the combination of AC and a fan is really quite important. Because the cool air tends to hover at floor level, and a fan helps move it around a bit. @svenscholz
@Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz When I used to live in NYC we had a whole complex jury-rigged system with both box fans and oscillating fans to maximize the effectiveness of our window AC unit. Definitely gotta have fans and air movement, always
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@Remittancegirl @svenscholz Which makes me really wonder why on Earth the floor-mounted internal AC units are so popular in the US.
@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz Sadly, I think those are mostly "popular" because people's landlords won't let them use the more efficient window units
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@Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz When I used to live in NYC we had a whole complex jury-rigged system with both box fans and oscillating fans to maximize the effectiveness of our window AC unit. Definitely gotta have fans and air movement, always
@sidereal It also saves quite a bit of electricity, because you can put the AC on at a higher temp, since you're distributing the cooling more efficiently. @vriesk @svenscholz
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz also we don't have AC in Europe.
Not going to get into a big argument about why, because some entitled Yanks think their wars for oil are a good trade off for subsidised energy/oil costs.
We have really high energy costs, so even if the AC is cheap to install (it isn't but not the highest cost) then the energy cost will burn you, even if you're cool.
Also...most of our building were built before A/C was a thing, so hard to adapt, more expense.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl Thanks! Is this (finally) the explanation for why I crave very spicy food on hot days? The sweat triggering?
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@fietsria @Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz
Yeah, the point is that keeping yourself wet enough for the fan to help is something you have to actively think about at those temperatures
@gbargoud @fietsria @Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz
Living in the American Southwest in the 90s, they began to put misting fans on restaurant patios. It made a 100*F (37.7C) day so much more bearable. Moisture and a fan could drop the ambient air temperature enough to make it comfortable.
They became available at reasonable prices for home use too. The simple systems are just an atomizing watering ring in front of a fan.
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@vriesk I know, right? Do they not understand that hot air rises?@svenscholz
@Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz
You find those floor vents in older houses built before AC was a thing. They are stupid. They make it impossible to put your furniture where you want it. They collect dust like crazy too.
Even after AC was a thing aome builders kept putting them in the floor because it was cheaper than adding enough duct work to put them in the ceilings. It really seems to be a regional problem in the US.
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@vriesk
FFS dude, no.@Remittancegirl
Sorry you got "akshually"d on your lived experience, good grief.@tarabara @vriesk @Remittancegirl
Jesus, really hoped the mansplaining would be better here. I recently had someone try to tell me you're supposed to sit on traditional Baltic swings...
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@vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz I think the floor vents in southern homes are a combination of a hold-over of older houses that had a heater for the winter but relied on open windows and air flow in summer, people bringing northern building practices south without considering the local climate (more than half the US is in climates where heating is more important than cooling), and slow cultural change where floor vents and ceiling fans are seen as normal or classic and upper wall vents are seen as unsightly.
Also, many older houses built with floor vents are poorly insulated, and at least in Florida, many people *suffer* when it gets to 50-55 F (10-12C).
@Robotistry @vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz
My folks had their house rebuilt after a tornado had hit it. They lived in the south. They had to fight with the builder to put R35 insulation in the attic. The damn man insisted it didn't get cold enough for it without realizing you want it as well for keeping a house cooler when running AC. It was also a fight for decent insulation in the walls.
I got up there when it was finished and added another layer and made sure the soffits were open.
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@vriesk
FFS dude, no.@Remittancegirl
Sorry you got "akshually"d on your lived experience, good grief.@tarabara I used the block button.
@vriesk@hachyderm.io @Remittancegirl -
@Remittancegirl I'm from Portugal, we also get a few toasty days over here. I'll also leave a tip. A small cotton wet towel around the back of the neck helps keep your head cool.
@bit That's my way to survive entering the baking oven of my old car (AC not really working). @Remittancegirl
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@bit That's my way to survive entering the baking oven of my old car (AC not really working). @Remittancegirl
@NatureMC @Remittancegirl Yeah being inside a car during hot days is a challenge too.
I once forgot to put the sunscreen on the windscreen of my car on a sunny day, and then had to use a towel to be able to touch the steering wheel to drive.
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@ApostateEnglishman
I'm just so sorry to see people having to go through this. Because I know how utterly unprepared most Northern Europeans are, and the infrastructure isn't built for it either.I do worry - especially for older people and children. They are very vulnerable.
@Remittancegirl And a lot of people we often forget. E.g. if you have no more thyroid, the "temperature center" of your body. You live easily with hormons in form of daily tablets but reactions to temperatures can differ.
Mentally ill people are very vulnerable in heat. It's not yet researched well why heat poses a big problem for schizophrenia and psychosis. In the radio, they also warned that medicaments can change their effects if kept too warm, eg anti-depressants.
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@radioclash @vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz I remember when I was in Egypt and Jordan, "American-style" AC blasting straight arctic temperatures was super common there over ten years ago. Not everyone there lives in a historic building (most people in Cairo live in 20th century built high rises), and climate change has made it so that the historic buildings' passive heating systems are often overwhelmed
The good news is that heat pump ACs are actually reasonably environmentally friendly.
@sidereal @vriesk @Remittancegirl @svenscholz I was there in 2011...during the elections, it was fun *ahem*...I now know what tear gas smells like.
I didn't have A/C in my room. A/C was quite rare as I seem to remember?
You must've stayed in some posh hotels or been on a tour, I was on my own. I only remember A/C being on the tour bus to Abu Simbel. I think my room in Aswan had it, not the room in Cairo though.
But touring the mosques it was super cool - not cos of A/C but the design of them. Same in Moorish parts of Spain - those little squares with fountains and trees,, the square buildings, the windows with mesh vent holes, etc.
Amazing how it works.
And btw I wasn't talking about Egypt, I mentioned Islamic architecture as a model, so not totally sure why you brought it up?
Islamic style architecture exists in Europe, too!
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@Remittancegirl And a lot of people we often forget. E.g. if you have no more thyroid, the "temperature center" of your body. You live easily with hormons in form of daily tablets but reactions to temperatures can differ.
Mentally ill people are very vulnerable in heat. It's not yet researched well why heat poses a big problem for schizophrenia and psychosis. In the radio, they also warned that medicaments can change their effects if kept too warm, eg anti-depressants.
@Remittancegirl Another problem making vulnerable, is poverty. Poor people often live in worst conditions. Here in France we have a new word "energy poverty": people can't pay anymore the bills for heating in winter and cooling in summer because their flats are a horror (landlords didn't invest).
We just have a debate how dangerous these conditions have become for students.
We had some good political ideas but our recent chaos government destroyed them ...
