Thinking this is ridiculous on all levels

[holihell]

www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/climate-change/climate-adaptation/cool-spaces

Money & time spent on advising people where to keep cool in London..??! The mayor is seriously promoting this on Twitter right now.. there is no heatwave now or forecast.. why?!

1. are we really at that level of spoon feeding now that people can't be trusted to find a bit of shade or a shop with air con if they feel a bit hot?!
2. do other, truly hotter, cities have these? Would have been useful for Dubai or Florida (if I was thick!!!) but London??
3. what about all the warm places for the homeless.. much rather we point those out
4. who is this actually for?? Just an exercise to tick a bizarre future box or am I missing something here?
5. and why has it made me insanely furious?!

YANBU OP

He should tell people to move up north, it's bloody cold here

It clearly says it’s part of a wider government requirement and he’s hardly paid for a massive advertising campaign, it’s just in a website

But how many people spent time (therefore money) on putting this "advice" together? It's a waste isn't it.

People die in hot weather, especially elderly and vulnerable and the UK is getting hotter.Doesn’t seem that insane to try and prevent this. And planning in advance is clearly necessary, no point waiting until a heatwave. Florida and other traditionally hot places tend to have AC everywhere

Also I’m not sure if you’re elderly, there’s a heatwave and you need to cool down but not sure where is best equated to ‘being thick’

Sounds quite innovative to me, I can certainly imagine a future where all cities have similar data, which is made available for other services to use.

For instance, could Citymapper access this information and offer you a route from A to B which prioritises coolness?

If you have small children on a blistering hot day and need baby changing + cool facilities - and could now find this in five seconds with a quick phone search?

When incompetent people run out of ideas to do stuff that makes a real difference, they resort to stuff like this to make it look like they are productive. This is a good example

Surely people who have managed to live long enough to be elderly have managed to work out how to cool down.

There are already warming protocols for homeless people. It's a lot less challenging because homeless people die publicly of the cold whereas older people die privately of the heat.

BC in Canada last year had 45+ degree heat breaking all records and several degrees off the charts for them. It was caused by global warming a heat dome which was unusual. It happened in June and was unexpected. Many people died, worst weather death count in Canadian history. Yes, a country that regularly hits 40 below, blizzards and ice storms and it's heat that killed the most people. It's put the wind up everyone and now planning for very extreme heat events is mandatory.

Welcome to a warming word.

In fact the more I read about this the better it gets - this is the kind of initiative which will get increasingly important in a world of climate change

Being able to find tree cover, or somewhere to fill up a water bottle - these are the lifestyle changes which will need to be made to improve quality of life in the face of increasingly worse weather conditions

Plus it looks like they are expecting people to submit the data for suggested places so it is likely crowd funded and therefore cost little to build. I doubt they have a hundred staff walking around the city with thermometers

@PriamFarrl elderly people find it harder to regulate their temperature. And as they get very elderly often find things that were easy when younger more confusing. Just because you’re ok Jack doesn’t mean everyone else is

We have maybe 2 or 3 days a year when this might come in useful.

Seems handy if you're put and about or homeless in a heatwave

Now. You wait just a few years.

And, yawn, it's actually all about nighttime temperatures. Because what kills is no respite. If you can cool in the night, which is common in the UK, you will probably survive. But if you can't, like during a heat dome, you are massively more likely to die.

Medication, like anti-psychotics, and medical conditions like diabetes make people massively more vulnerable and information helps. These are very common and getting more so.

I know it's tempting to look at Sadie Khan and think, 'I don't like him therefore anything he says is nonsense' but this really is information which is needed and will be going forward.

I am slightly involved in emergency planning so I am very nerdy about this.

Where we lived in California if the weather was predicted to be over about 40 for more than a few days the town opened up cooling centres. It was usually the gym or the Hall in the local schools that had A/C (summer holidays) Mostly used by the elderly and even younger families who lived in a home without A/C.They would all go home at night s the weather cooled and come back the next day.
I can't see it being needed here right now. Or even more than a few days a year at most.

This. Also prevention is better than cure. We don't just teach kids road sense when they are by a road for example. And yabu for being furious about it. If it saves just one life or prevents just one older person being admitted to hospital then it's been worth it

Will these vulnerable old people who can't work out how to cool off in London on a hot day know how to work access this vital information by mobile phone though...or even be in London on a hot day?
I get forward planning for extreme weather, I don't get publicising this resource, this weekend.

Yes we do need to adapt and changes will need to happen. Don't see the point in anger about it.

They don’t notice that they’re getting overheated apparently, it’s like the boiling frog.

More and more people will die from the extremes of weather we are getting and it is only going to get worse because we are not changing our behaviour. So it’s a waste of money to do this and then promote and subsidise the oil industry. It’s like setting traps all over the forest and then giving vague advice about where they are to look like you care if people get hurt. Why just not set the traps in the first place?

But, as a species, we are stupid. We know what’s happening. We have a very good idea about what’s to come and just how awful it will be. We know exactly what we can do to avoid the worst of it. But we choose to continue in what we are doing and sleep walk into disaster.

That’s unreasonable IMO.

I just think they're spoonfeeding yes to dumb people down on the whole, degrade, insult, and demoralise us so they can apply climate taxes and carbon allowances connected to a microchip linked to digital currency and go for total control inside smart cities connected to a grid.

That, or the people in charge are all dumb as rocks but somehow got into positions of such power that none of us who are obviously smart enough to see how dumb they are couldn't get into?

I know which sounds more likely.

I get forward planning for extreme weather, I don't get publicising this resource, this weekend.

Heat domes come on very quickly with little warning and are most dangerous when they happen early in the year. June is a perfect time to tell people. The perfect time actually.

And I agree that SM and internet isn't the best way to tell vulnerable older people. But it is the best way to tell the people who support them. And you. The most important thing anyone can do is check on their elderly neighbours if this happens. Knock on their door, offer a cool drink, check for confusion or distress. Most older people die alone in their home. Isolated and alone. Being connected to your neighbours is life-saving in this case.

We have cooling places for people to go to in hot weather here where I live in the US. They are advertised on social media, etc.

The ones were we lived were around before social media I lived there a long time the local pizza parlour, hairdressers and grocery stores had flyers up and also put a flyer in the grocery bag of everyone as they packed your food. They used to talk about them on the local radio station too