Post by @afewbugs@social.coop

It was in the high twenties in our bedroom last night, I didn't sleep very well and am a bit of a zombie today and Charlie didn't sleep at all. Seriously considering trying to figure out how to pitch a tent in the garden (it's tarmac which is the issue) and decamping to that. A friend of mine just shared a picture of a thermometer showing it was thirty degrees in her room when she woke up.

UK housing just isn't built for these temperatures, and as the climate warms this is just going to exacerbate inequality unless we do something about it. No one can perform well on exams or at work after nights like that. Some disabilities make people more vulnerable to heat, and disabled people are more likely to be living in poverty and unable to afford mitigating measures.

#UKheatwave #ClimateDiary

#ukheatwave #ClimateDiary

Jules she/her

@afewbugs@social.coop · 23 hours ago

This isn't a criticism of my parents, and this isn't saying we're badly off either, I know we're doing better than many. But just because the world worked differently for their generation, my parents are much better off than us and the difference between how their house copes with the heat and how ours does is really striking. They have a two storey semi detached house sitting in a garden that they could put a tent in if they wanted to, but they don't need to because it's shaded on one side by trees, large enough to get a through draft going and they have a portable bedroom air conditioning unit and can afford the electricity to run it if that ever isn't enough. I popped round on Monday and it was a perfectly pleasant temperature.

Jules she/her

@afewbugs@social.coop · 23 hours ago

Whereas ours is a single cramped story on the first floor above some carports, which is admittedly great in winter but in summer is just the right height to be struck directly by the afternoon sun and surrounded by tarmac and paving. Again this isn't a woe is me post, I am aware we're much better off than most, but just demonstrating how poorly designed most British housing for people of average means is for the heat

Jules she/her

@afewbugs@social.coop · 20 hours ago

Also, and here's a thought, maybe we should stop laughing at GenZ for their fancy electrolyte drinks and powders habit and recognise that they're all living in rented furnaces and probably need them so may as well get tasty ones.