Older women are particularly vulnerable to and can potentially die in heat waves.
This is a fact, and I will not dispute it.
What to do to alleviate the heat causing all the distress is the issue. There is plenty of room for disputation and some very loose play with facts.
As I age, I like what is commonly referred to as “air conditioning.” When it’s not warm enough to engage that system, I rely on other time tested, relatively energy efficient, and remarkably effective little miracles known as “fans.” They are usually ceiling-mounted, but we do have a couple tower models to sweep the house when the power’s out, or to help the a/c during the heat of a North Florida summer day.
I believe Europeans are averse to any of these simple cooling aids purely out of natural stubbornness. Their innate sense of superiority renders them incapable of admitting their lives would be vastly more comfortable if they only employed them (See: Paris and no a/c for summer Olympics).
They prefer to swelter with their noses in the air. Although if anyone’s ever been in Italy in the winter, you know swelter is the name of the game. I’ve never been so hot and miserable inside in my life. Every place we went, be it our lodgings or the vast caverns of the Vatican, easily was at 85°. And every last native still had fur-lined parka, boots, and scarves on while traipsing through miles of exhibits.
We Americans were about stripped down to our skivvies and still sweating buckets.
“The Italians and their heat” became an ongoing theme.
I know the Germans get their homes pretty toasty in the winter, too, so “heat” appears to be a shared European value. Quit bitching about your power bills and turn the rad down 10°. Wear a pair of sweats if it’s still too cold.
But come summer, when it gets too hot even for them, I do not understand the opposition to using a few of man’s wonderful inventions to – as opposed to heat – cool your home to 85° or whatever. Rather than take the chance on your granny expiring from heat exhaustion because she hasn’t a fan or a window a/c unit.
The Europeans won’t bend that knee, even for Granny.
Swiss Grannies, in fact, have decided it makes more sense to sue their government for not ruining more lives by imposing climate cult edicts than it does to plug in a fan in the summer.
So that’s what they did. And they won.
Swiss women win landmark climate case at Europe top human rights court
Europe’s top human rights court ruled on Tuesday that the Swiss government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change, in a decision that will set a precedent for future climate lawsuits.
The European Court of Human Rights’s ruling, in favour of the more than 2,000 Swiss women who brought the case, is expected to resonate in court decisions across Europe and beyond, and to embolden more communities to bring climate cases against governments.
WAIT, WHUT
Oh, it gets even better. Not that this court sees themselves as lunatic activists or anything – Heaven forbid. The ECHR is on a crusade, my friends, and the neat thing about them is anything that they declare to be so cannot be appealed. Additionally, any judgments out of this tribunal steam-roll across the entire EU membership.
That’s some heavy-duty power.
…The court, which calls itself “the conscience of Europe”, found that Switzerland had failed to comply with its duties to stop climate change. It also set out a path for organisations to bring further cases on behalf of applicants.
The Swiss verdict opens up all 46 members of the Council of Europe to similar cases in national courts that they are likely to lose.
Joie Chowdhury, an attorney at the Centre for International Environmental Law campaign group, said the judgment left no doubt that the climate crisis was a human rights crisis. “We expect this ruling to influence climate action and climate litigation across Europe and far beyond,” she said.
What the smug Swiss grannies have wrought is what, say, the Green Party couldn’t do in Germany because of voters beginning a backlash.
Such sweet old ladies, huh?
…The KlimaSeniorinnen, a group of 2,400 older Swiss women, told the court that several of their rights were being violated. Because older women are more likely to die in heatwaves – which have become hotter and more common because of fossil fuels – they argued that Switzerland should do its share to stop the planet heating by the Paris agreement target of 1.5C (2.7F) above preindustrial levels.
Don’t think for two seconds that wasn’t the plan all along when activists started to see how the wind was shifting as far as European elections and the pushback on the utter and complete disaster Green policies have been throughout Europe. NetZero could describe what the renewable transition benefit has been to your average rate-payer, not Mother Earth. Everyone not connected with the cult has been left in the cold and dark and it’s only getting worse. Hence, the general uprising at elections and the frantic scrambling to CYA in Brussels.
Now, thanks to the EU set-up and this unassailable verdict from an unelected, unaccountable uni-court, the Greens have a way to force action on carbon and greenhouse gas goals, wishes of European voters be damned.
One of the most interesting tidbits about this appalling ruling is that Switzerland is not a member of the EU…
…Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union, voluntarily submits to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. The EHCR in my opinion has over the years proven itself to be one of the most anti-democratic European institutions, frequently overruling the policies of elected officials.
…and Swiss VOTERS had roundly rejected any further draconian climate policies.
…It indicates Switzerland has a legal duty to take greater action on reducing emissions.
If Switzerland does not update its policies, further litigation could follow at the national level and courts could issue financial penalties, Lucy Maxwell, co-director of the non-profit Climate Litigation Network, said.
Switzerland has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, from 1990 levels. Bern had proposed stronger measures to deliver the goal, but voters rebuffed them in a 2021 referendum as too burdensome.
“Hah!” said the Swiss grannies as they royally flipped off their fellow citizens.
Oh, those clever climate vixens.
‘I would love to sue our government to make it hotter.’@damienslash reacts to Europe’s highest court ruling countries ‘must protect citizens’ after legal action form 2,000 Swiss women. pic.twitter.com/L3d3jSfz5d
— GB News (@GBNEWS) April 10, 2024
And then thousands of pairs of greedy cultish lips could be heard smacking the world over.
…Tuesday’s judgment in favor of the Swiss women sets “a precedent for other international courts to follow,” Liston, from Global Legal Action Network, told CNN.
Both the International Court of Justice and the Inter American Court of Human Rights have cases pending which relate to the human rights impacts of climate change.
Such a service to humanity, these self-centered, too high-and-mighty to plug in a fan/flip the a/c switch on activists have just rendered to every sweating soul in Europe this summer.
There is no more wealthy or privileged group of people on the planet than Swiss women and their Nordic neighbors. Yet, their human rights are being violated due to rising global temperatures.
The gov’t & others can be now sued into oblivion for not stopping bad weather. pic.twitter.com/2uF4zezPyJ
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) April 9, 2024
I sure hope they are properly and perpetually rendered all honors for this triumphant moment from each voter they encounter on the streets.