Readers respond to an article by Zoe Williams that asks why we pretend extreme heat is fun
Call me a killjoy, but I agree with Zoe Williams (Why do we pretend heatwaves are fun – and ignore the brutal, burning reality? 23 June). It’s not just because I’m a fading redhead with fair skin, freckles, vitiligo and a need for factor 50 protection. I enjoy feeling warm to my bones as much as anyone. Today, the world is hotter than it was when I was a child. I’m now 68 and science has been predicting a hotter climate for many years. People around the world are dying because they are overheating.
Does anyone care? The opportunity to build in human-centred solutions to warming is being missed – for example, into urban housing and for vulnerable people, so we are incredibly underprepared for the human tragedy being forecast by scientists. I’m worried for my children and grandchildren. What kind of world are we building?
