The politics of air con in France, because the nation basks in yet one more heatwave.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
In France, the most recent controversy is not about taxes, the retirement age and even cuts to valuable summer time holidays. It is about air con. Europe’s summers are getting hotter, and a few say activate the AC, whereas others say, (talking French). NPR’s Rebecca Rosman stories from Paris.
REBECCA ROSMAN, BYLINE: It began on a sizzling – highly regarded – summer time day in late June, with a declaration that appeared benign sufficient.
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MARINE LE PEN: (Talking French).
ROSMAN: “Air con saves lives,” far-right occasion chief Marine Le Pen informed French TV channel BFM within the midst of a hundred-degree heatwave. She, due to this fact, discovered it, quote, “completely absurd” that almost all of hospitals and colleges nonetheless haven’t got it. Eighteen-hundred colleges needed to shut in the course of the heatwave, in keeping with the federal government. Le Pen stated, if elected someday, she would set up AC models throughout the nation. Then got here the response from France’s Ecologist Occasion.
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MARINE TONDELIER: (Talking French).
ROSMAN: Chatting with France Information radio, Inexperienced Occasion secretary Marine Tondelier stated she wasn’t in opposition to putting in air con in colleges and hospitals, however she insisted it does not should be the one resolution.
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TONDELIER: (Talking French).
ROSMAN: Tondelier stated the true drawback is poor insulation, which is why her occasion is pushing for extra funding in energy-efficient buildings. A current OpinionWay ballot discovered solely about half of the French public assume all public areas needs to be air conditioned. Solely 1 / 4 of French households have AC models, in comparison with 90% within the U.S.
NICOLAS BOUZOU: I needed to sum up, I can say that the left is in opposition to air conditioners, and the correct is in favor air conditioner.
ROSMAN: That is economist Nicolas Bouzou. In a current op-ed for the French paper Le Figaro, Bouzou argued air con is not nearly consolation, it is about productiveness.
BOUZOU: It is very tough to work. It is very tough to check. And on the finish of the day, it’s extremely tough to battle in opposition to the local weather disaster.
ROSMAN: And since most of France’s vitality is nuclear, he says the nation can keep cool with out warming the planet.
Right here in Paris, 8 out of the ten hottest summers on document have been within the final decade. Nonetheless, on this 90-degree afternoon, Parisians stretched out alongside the Seine, seeming unbothered, like 73-year-old author Philippe Mezescase. I ask how he feels concerning the thought of extra air con in France, notably after a collection of hundred-degree warmth waves this summer time.
PHILIPPE MEZESCASE: (Talking French).
ROSMAN: To which he says he is largely in opposition to it. AC wastes lots of vitality, he says. Why not simply open a window? Others are straight up offended by the query.
So what do you consider air con?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I do not like this. I do not like. I haven’t got.
ROSMAN: After which there’s Peter Soderbaum, an Australian who says he is baffled the French are even debating this.
What is the dialogue on air con in Australia?
PETER SODERBAUM: There is no dialogue. You may have air con (laughter).
ROSMAN: Soderbaum has reluctantly tailored to France’s air con phobia. He says he retains a fan in his house and makes use of blackout curtains to maintain out daylight in the course of the day. However he additionally believes the French are delaying the inevitable.
SODERBAUM: Like, it can come, whether or not they need it or not.
ROSMAN: France and Europe is getting hotter – maybe too sizzling to dwell with out the AC.
Rebecca Rosman, NPR Information, Paris.
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