The heat is on

In the Sound of Music the sisters sang “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” This week as temperatures soared there is no doubt in my mind they would have been typing AC unit into Amazon reaching for the Magnums and singing, “How do you solve a problem like climate change”

There are some things you can’t ignore, and this week’s news has made it brutally clear: climate change is no longer a future threat. It’s a here-and-now crisis, showing up on doorsteps, in hospital wards, and through the windows of stifling homes right across the UK and Europe.

Britain is once again sweltering. Thermometers are pushing past 33°C and climbing, with heat alerts sounding across the country. According to joint modelling by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Imperial College, this latest heatwave could cause up to 600 premature deaths in the UK alone. That’s not sensationalism, that’s science

And yet, our national response remains dangerously underpowered. Poor insulation, inadequate urban design, and a housing stock built for a cooler century are now literal liabilities.

We know who pays the price: the elderly, the ill, the disabled, the vulnerable. And they’re paying with their lives.

In London, nearly half of all residents now say they feel personally affected by climate change. One in three worry specifically about water quality, heat, wind, and air pollution. These aren’t distant or abstract fears anymore, they’re lived experiences – and they’re getting worse.

Compare our national readiness to that of Italy. In cities like Bologna, climate shelters have been opened with air-con and cold water for at-risk groups. Venice is offering free museum access for over-75s to cool down. Rome has opened pools to pensioners and handed out dehumidifiers. In Portugal, red alerts have been issued and public health officials are urging people to stay indoors. Even the Eiffel Tower has shut its doors.

Meanwhile, we’re still arguing about whether heatwaves are “just a hot summer”.

We can’t adapt to what we refuse to prepare for. It’s not just about emissions anymore, though we must cut them, and fast, it’s about resilience. That means better buildings, greener cities, cooler streets, and a real, joined-up strategy.

Over 80% of people in the UK live in urban areas. The urban heat island effect is now an annual threat, and unless we start mandating biodiversity net gain, urban greening, and passive cooling infrastructure, we’re locking ourselves into a deadly cycle.

We need bold, integrated responses that go beyond soundbites.

We need political courage that matches the scale of the emergency.

And most of all, we need to stop acting surprised when the heat comes calling.

And while I’m on the soapbox over that, let’s talk about next week. London is set to boil again with 30°C days forecast, and you can feel the panic-buying creeping in. Amazon is about to have another bumper week shifting box after box of cheap, plug-in air conditioning units. It’s understandable, of course, people (including yours truly) want to stay cool. But here’s the irony: the more units we plug in, the more strain we place on our electricity grid (which, while improving, is still partly fossil-fuelled), and the more emissions we generate.

This is the cycle we have to break. Comfort and convenience are driving behaviours that, collectively, make us hotter in the long term. We’ve all become experts in coping, but not in adapting. What if we flipped the focus to local, passive cooling design? What if, instead of buying the latest plasticky quick fix, we invested in green spaces, solar-reflective coatings, tree-lined streets, natural ventilation, and shared cool zones in our communities?

The answer isn’t more gadgets. It’s more systems thinking. And that comes from a guy who loves his gadgets. It’s time we stopped pretending that consumer-led overconsumption is just a symptom. It is the problem. We’ve got to push harder for circular economy approaches, not just in materials but in behaviours, architecture, and how we define what a ‘cool’ future actually looks like.

This isn’t extreme anymore …it’s the new normal.

It’s time for policy, behaviour, and infrastructure to grow up, fast, and meet the challenge head on. That means recognising and rewarding real solutions, rejecting false comforts, and embracing the uncomfortable truth: we have to change how we live now, or we’ll end up living with the consequences forever.

In the meantime, enjoy the sunshine, apply plenty of sunscreen and stay cool!

Story by Syntech Biofuel