In the face of another summer of extremes, heatwaves, droughts, and hosepipe bans, PowerWash Simulator feels like fantasy wish fulfillment.
The UK is coming to the end of its third unseasonal heatwave. By the middle of July.
You know that feeling, when you go on holiday, you get off the plane, and it feels like you’ve stepped into a blast furnace? I flew to Greece a few weeks ago and it felt exactly the same as it did in windy old Leeds Bradford airport. And before you all start complaining that our temperatures aren’t as hot as yours, have a quick check in on Americans (and others from hot places, the likes of Australia, China, Pakistan, and more) realising that the UK is actually one of the poorest-equipped in the world to deal with heat.
The implications of these heatwaves are frightening. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather suggests that not only is climate change worsening, but it is accelerating. A recent study by LSHTM (that’s the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, AKA the experts in how the planet is trying to kill us) shows that one heatwave alone, from June 23 to July 2 of this year, resulted in 263 excess deaths in the UK. Of those 263, 172 have been chalked up to the impact of climate change. It’s a similar story across Western and Central Europe, where that particular heatwave hit hardest, and is, frankly, terrifying. (It’s also upsetting how the COVID pandemic has made the term “excess deaths” feel like a common phrase, but this is the world we live in now.)
The response in the UK is predictable. First, people get over excited that summer’s come early, spend far too much time in the garden/park/beer garden with too little sunscreen, and get heat stroke. Then come the complaints that it’s “too hot, if anything,” and it’s “I heard it’s hotter than
