Letters to the Editor: Europe’s heat waves are exactly what climate scientists warned us about

To the editor: Another deadly heat wave hits Europe just as vacationers arrive for summer visits (“France restricts public drinking and outdoor sports as heat wave bakes parts of Europe,” June 21). Parts of France, Spain, Italy and Germany are now experiencing “red alerts,” with temperatures in the high 90s and over 100 degrees. Nearly a quarter of a million people in Europe died of heat-related causes over the last four years.

This is part of what climate scientists predicted almost 40 years ago. While we wait for serious national action on climate change, U.S. states and cities must do what they can to stop “business as usual” and lower the temperature to avoid even worse effects of extreme warming.

Dennis Thompson, Santa Barbara

..

To the editor: For decades, scientists have warned that if we continue to burn fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — their emissions will cause our planet to overheat. Sure enough, extreme temperatures, heat stress days and tropical nights have all become dramatically more frequent, long and severe. An additional 1 billion people face extreme heat stress now compared to the 1970s.

A recent study says that the world is on track to add nearly two months of superhot days each year by the end of the century.

Unfortunately, President Trump and his Republican Party have conspired with fossil fuel interests to do all they can to prolong the inevitable transition away from these polluting energy sources. Affordable clean energy is available now. Let’s use our votes in November to elect politicians who will heed climate science and move us toward a clean energy future.

Robert Taylor, Santa Barbara

..

To the editor: Europe is sizzling hot (“Europe swelters under an early heat wave as France records its hottest day ever,” June 23). An early summer heat wave that climate scientists are linking to global warming has so far led to 40 drowning deaths in France, mainly among people seeking relief from the blazing 104-degree-plus temperatures.

Both of our adult sons and their families are vacationing in Europe now and are having to contend with the dangerously oppressive heat. The heat is not confined to the big cities like Paris. Our youngest son and his family are staying with his wife’s family in the picturesque French Alpine village of Sallanches. The daytime temperature even there in the mountains hovers around 90 degrees, limiting outdoor activities.

This heat wave should surprise no literate person. For years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that a temperature increase above 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times (a threshold some say has been crossed) will likely lead to irreversible outcomes. Fossil fuels are killing us.

Tom Osborne, Laguna Beach