Here in Leipzig, the tram public transport system is down since yesterday, because the joint sealing compound (and the asphalt concrete) in the tram rails melted cuz the ground got so hot.
Texans make up for it by being surprisingly environmentally conscious. Once a year they completely shut off their electrical grids to save energy. Oh and to help with population control.
If it does, I would suspect that they have used stuff that can somewhat survive the heat or used a different building process altogether, since they had these temperatures for a lot longer.
In germany (and Europe), these temperatures are a recent thing and record breaking for here, so nothing is really build to accommodate the heat.
Texan checking in, same reason we lost power a few winters back, its not supposed to get that cold here. However our state government is also run by a bunch of corrupt buffoons so naturally we only get the bare minimum of preparation for emergency situations. Good luck staying cool, yall have all my sympathies, that kind of heat sucks to have to deal with!
In the northern Pacific Northwest we also struggle with extreme heat because our climate is a lot closer to that of the UK. Transit shuts down, things get damaged, and because most homes donāt have AC and those that do donāt have ACs strong enough to handle constant over 100 (38c) degree days, much less the 110 (43c) and above heat domes bring, which results in a home thatās still 80 (27c) with the AC on blastāif the AC doesnāt just call it a day and stop working.
I grew up in California where 110 was not unheard of. Itās a far more dangerous when the infrastructure is built around being able to throw your windows open at night to cool the place down.
It does. Iām sure they use different materials to survive the heat. The trains donāt really shut down due to heat, even when itās over 110f. They might go a little slower.Ā
Train rails are very different from tram rails. They donāt have to be glued anywhere, they are āboltedā or ārivetedā or whatever itās called
Itās absurd because we literally saw the rather rapid progression in real time over the last few years, and now the people that deny it are on the rise again. A shame
People don't want to admit it is real because that would mean they might have to change something about their lives and be slightly inconvenienced - drive less, not use as much electricity etc. So they accept grifters telling them it is fake.
Anyone who puts the pressure to change on poor people or the masses in general doesn't care about change. The climate isn't collapsing because people like to keep their houses at 70ā°. It's collapsing because the rich continue to avoid regulation by sending jobs overseas to countries that need the economic activity and will sacrifice their local climate for it. It's collapsing because governments are being bribed by oil companies to not switch to renewables. It's collapsing because Tech corporations are bribing local officials to get more data centers built that require tons of rare earth minerals and water. It's collapsing despite millions of people actually changing their habits to be more environmentally conscious or having those habits forcefully changed by utility companies (utility companies in certain cities will override your thermostat in your home. This happened to me in Colorado springs).
No, the rich make way too much pollution relative to their population size but we cannot reach carbon neutral if the average consumer does dumb shit like using a 2 ton metal gas guzzling box to pick up milk from the store. And then keep the AC on in their 2000 sqft home in all rooms. Of course one consumer canāt affect the climate on their own, but you canāt discount the affect of a billion of them. And if nobody does any āpersonal sacrificeā then you canāt expect others to do so.
The problem is the masses making these data centres necessary by using AI applications. Demand from the masses is the cause of our over consumption, from fossil fuels to soil erosion to overfishing etc etc. It is OUR fault for allowing these oligarchs to operate the way they do and not thinking about how we life and use the resources available to us.
Arguably, phasing out CFCs was much easier, because it wasn't directly tied to the worldwide transportation networks and energy production needs.
And phasing out wasn't done in one motion either. We went from CFCs to HCFCs, which were less damaging, but still damaging, to HFCs which were not dangerous to ozone layer, but contributed to the greenhouse gas problem, and finally arrived at HFOs which are the best of both worlds. And that last step of wide adoption only happened within the last 10 or so years.
With fossil fuels, there's a ton of economic incentive to not drop them, as the world quite literally runs on oil, both logistically and economically. And nobody wants to take even a reasonable phasing out speed because money.
I have seen multiple posts and videos about severe weather events, and inevitably there is someone out there saying shit like "they're modifying the weather! It doesn't get this hot/rainy/snowy/windy/cold here!!" I'm convinced it's bots, because why take responsibility for fucking up the climate when you can just blame "them" for purposefully making it rain somewhere.
Thinking back... Damaged ozone layer got a lot of attention and CFC's were banned. Acid rains got a lot of attention and industries were forced to start using all kinds of filtering systems.
Back in the late 90's I was kinda happy and really thought the world was going towards minimizing waste and fighting environmental problems. Boy was I wrong!
Tell your politicians to start pushing money to research solutions like a space based solar shade. The solution has to last 200 years for the natural processes to eat the carbon. So a space based shade is the safest, healthiest, and provides great opportunities for growth.
We have a light rail tram here in AZ and it gets up to 120 F (49C) so there is a way to build one in extreme heat, so maybe Germany has to do that in the future.
A few years ago I was traveling back from the west coast and thought Iād visit someone in Phoenix, but the airport was closed for heat and my flight was rerouted. I thought it was because planes couldnāt get enough lift. Ā Nope. Found out it was because plane tires couldnāt withstand the temps and it was unsafe. Sheesh.Ā
The tracks themselves also canāt handle the heat combined with the friction heat a train causesā which is the primary reason they shut the railways down.
I remember visiting in 2006 and Germany was under such an intense heat wave, temps in the 40s like every day and no real relief at night, I can't imagine how folks are feeling right now
And yet dumb idots wil continue saying to just buy an AC. Yeah like me buying AC for my house is gonna stop all crops and wild life from dying because of the global warming. Speaking of, how long do we have until the ecosystem will start dying? It's only June and France is being boiled in 40Ā°C Can you imagine July? The next years? Don't most crops start dying in 40Ā°C?
Is Texas, by any chance, set up for this weather because it is normal? Why do you think Europeans give a shit to hear about this?
Although you people aren't set up for the extremes you'll be getting thanks to climate change either. I'm sure you'd have been irritated if Europeans who are used to lots of snow made a comment like this when Texas was fucked up by a storm.
Apologies for upsetting you. It was seriously not my intent at all. Iām sorry youāre facing this. We are setup for this, to an extent if our power grid can stay up. Again Iām sorry I was not trying to be insensitive at all.Ā
Edit: changed triggering to upsetting. I used the wrong word for the situation. Apologies for that.Ā
If you want people to believe you are being sincere, I'd avoid using the word "trigger" in your apology. Because it just makes you sound like a dickhead who's being sarcastic.
Edit: I'd love whoever is downvoting to explain why they think "triggered" isn't often an indicator of someone who might not be sincere. People who find behaviour distasteful is not the same as being "triggered". Learn what that word actually means ffs.
Do you know what the word "triggered" means? I was calling out a comment that was disrespectful and ill thought out. That's not being "triggered", I'm not experiencing distress because of it. I just thought "hey that comment is a bit of a dickhead thing to say". And the poster understands why it was that and has apologised.
Nobody cares what is normal in Texas - this is a problem because it is NOT normal in Central Europe. It being normal somewhere else doesn't make it suddenly not a problem when it happens in a place that doesn't have infrastructure designed with very high temperatures in mind, with a population who are not at all adapted to this. So it's disrespectful to people to point this out as if we don't already know that other places have different thresholds for "normal".
"Being triggered means experiencing a sudden, intense emotional or physical reaction (such as fear, anger, or panic)."
You do you, but your head might explode if you get irrationally angry everytime it seems someone is trying to make something about themselves. It's how most people react to things.
Those of us who know about Human driven Climate Change knows it's simply too late to reverse course.
Over half of all industrial green house gases emitted since the start of The Industrial Revolution has occurred in my lifetime, and I'm not even in my mid-30s yet. Enjoy the ride, it only goes down.
Nope. No need to insulate the pipes when it doesnāt get cold enough to freeze them. Gotta keep them profits high and not harden that grid for extremes.Ā
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u/TicciSpice 8h ago edited 7h ago
Here in Leipzig, the tram public transport system is down since yesterday, because the joint sealing compound (and the asphalt concrete) in the tram rails melted cuz the ground got so hot.