(Editorial) “Our promises like snow in the sun”, by Samuel Lieven

A few degrees less and everything is breathing again… until next time. The heatwave that we have just gone through was first of all a physical ordeal. Tired bodies, sleepless nights, closed schools, unlivable housing, burning sidewalks… Already two episodes on the clock while summer has barely started. And thousands of victims that we have not finished counting.

When mercury explodes, exceeding 40°C, it doesn’t just measure air temperature. It also takes that of a country, whose level of unpreparedness penalizes the population in a very unequal way: between those who have shutters and those who do not, those who find refuge in a cool room and those who seek a bench in the shade, those who leave and those who stay.

This homeless man we met in Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) told us in despair: “It’s almost worse than in winter!” » Or when a society is judged less by its speeches than by its concrete capacity to protect the youngest, the oldest, the poorest.

Liberty, equal rights, the search for happiness… Two and a half centuries after their birth, the immense promise that the United States carries is experiencing a new crisis. But the question posed to America also applies to us: what do we do with our promises? What is fraternity worth if the most fragile face the coming summers alone?

What is equality worth if children are deprived of school while others continue to learn in refreshed classes? What happens to freedom when moving, working or even sleeping becomes impossible? Even our summer reports, thought of as escapes, now come up against this physical limit: what can we still do, outside, when we are moving in an oven?

Heatwaves can no longer be treated as accidents. They require changing everything: housing, schools, cities, habits… This will have a cost. But doing nothing will cost more lives, health, and loneliness – without mentioning the impact on the economy. Because it reveals our societal choices under a blazing sun, nothing is more political today than the heatwave.