Post #3836594

2026-07-15 13:43 UTC

I'm glad someone's finally looking at the economic cost of the heatwave, because maybe our governments will finally start taking that seriously. Yes the heatwave killed lots of people, but they were mostly poor, disabled or elderly so easy to write off as economically unimportant in the grotesque capitalist calculus that underpins our society. https://theecologist.org/2026/jul/14/heatwaves-will-scorch-british-economy

Replies (1)

@afewbugs@social.coop 2026-07-15 13:48

I know people are suddenly spending a lot of money on air conditioning and blinds, but I would have thought the economic impact would be obvious to everyone just looking at their own lives. Everyone's permanently exhausted and unproductive, and late all the time because public transport is breaking down. One of my colleagues is off sick with heat exhaustion. Things are shutting down in our personal lives too. We decided not to go to a concert we'd been looking forward to all year because there was no shade, so that's money that wasn't spent on drinks and transport. I've also dropped out of my friend's birthday party, two sets of leaving drinks at work and a swimming trip with my nieces because I was too tired and didn't trust the trains, and I've had to cancel a future camping trip to use the leave from work now because I've been so exhausted, so that's more money not spent greasing the wheels of capitalism.

Open ##3836593