We're headed into the dog days of summer, so it's not surprising that the topic of air conditioning is on the minds of many Americans these days. A heatwave has been pummeling much of Europe for the past week, and the East Coast of the United States is about to be placed firmly under a "heat dome," with temperatures expected to climb into the 100s later this week in Virginia and North Carolina.
Our ACs will be humming, to be sure, along with the usual warnings of possible "rolling brownouts" to keep the power grids operational during the surge in usage.
And no one is loving our temperature-controlled houses, hotels, and restaurants more than our international visitors who are here for the World Cup – there have been a flood of amusing videos on social media showing them discover the wonders of choosing your room's temperature and wondering why their countries don't embrace it. They are loath to return home, and not just because their team has been eliminated.
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The European heatwave – which has resulted in an estimated 1,300 deaths since it began on June 21 – coinciding with the World Cup taking place in America has led to plenty of conversations about air conditioning. As RedState's Ward Clark reported over the weekend, Europe's far-left climate policies that punish modern conveniences like air conditioning have had deadly consequences.
Of course, many places see warm summer weather, and for the last few decades, people who live in the civilized world have had a great modern solution to hot weather: Air conditioning. AC not only makes life more comfortable, but for some people, like the elderly and people in poor health, it can be a lifesaver during serious heat waves.
It's a lifesaver that's now being denied to Brits, because of the government's lunatic Net Zero policies.
With the number of deaths climbing each day as the heat pervades in Europe, the blame game has well and truly begun. One of Paris' top politicians, Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar, is now pointing the finger directly at the United States.
Audrey Pulvar, the city's deputy mayor for international relations, has raged at Americans mocking France's limited air conditioning - and claimed their greenhouse gas emissions are to blame.
"Dear American journalists and social media 'influencers': for days, some of you have been criticising and making fun of Paris because the city does not have A/C in every room... OMG, this is so rich!" she blistered.
"As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, you bear a significant amount of responsibility for global warming and the consequences we, in France, are experiencing."
"So please, enough with the lecture. Just start doing your part. Best regards."
And, in case you were wondering, Pulvar has not issued a similar directive to China.
Just In: 🇫🇷🇺🇸 Paris Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar says the U.S. bears significant responsibility for France's deadly heatwave, citing America as the world's second largest emitter. pic.twitter.com/bTepVreyj3
— Uncover Report (@UncoverReport) June 29, 2026
Pulvar is undoubtedly feeling the heat as the death toll rises in her city and residents take to sleeping outdoors in parks and question the wisdom of creating a city in which metal roofs adorn most buildings, turning them into ovens with fews options for relief when the temperatures soar.
As it turns out, it's not Americans embracing their AC units that's the problem here, but rather France's hard-left climate policies that prioritize politics over the well-being of its citizens.
The problem in France is ideology. The political, cultural and media elite is dominated by the left and a central tenet of their dogma is the belief that air-conditioning is bad for the environment.
“Installing air conditioning everywhere just means making the damage worse,” declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left la France Insoumise. “You mustn’t do that under any circumstances.”
It’s a neat trick, really – spend years demonizing air conditioning as the world's worst environmental sin, build a society where relief from dangerous heat is treated like a luxury and not the life-saving solution it is, and then blame the forward-thinking Americans when the inevitable bad things happen.
Luckily, the heatwave blanketing Europe subsided on Sunday, but warnings have gone out that it may return around July 6.
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