The European Heatwave in 2003 Killed 20,000+ People: Why Is AC Still a Foreign Concept on the Continent?

The European Heatwave today is not a maiden occurrence. But why is air conditioning still a foreign concept in Europe? More than 20,000 perished following a record-breaking heat dome over Europe in August 2003, the Met Office stated. Many European countries sweltered through their highest temperatures ever, only to have those records broken this year. Forest fires, melting glaciers, low lake and river levels, and worst of all, deaths from heat stroke, dehydration, and drowning, were reported in many European countries in 2003. Some 15,000 people died in France, over 3,100 in Italy, around 2,000 in the UK and Portugal,...