Written by Nina Dorigo
Things are getting serious for the fastest-warming continent on Earth.
Summer 2026 in Europe was characterised by high temperatures, ravaging wildfires, and droughts strong enough to scorch fields and dry out riverbeds. It featured the anticipation of already meagre harvests due to early crop maturation, increased water scarcity, and most importantly, 35,000 excessive deaths caused by extreme heat.
Despite decades of discussion on climate change in both scientific and political realms, it feels as though this is the first time that continental Europe is really getting a taste of what it is like to live on a planet that is slowly – or maybe not so slowly – becoming uninhabitable. It’s no longer a campaign point for the EU or a green label on packaging; it’s a topic creeping its way into daily conversations.
But some of the responses to these troubling circumstances have been out of place. Instead of being truly outraged, we’ve seemed to accept this as an uncontrollable weather phenomenon. Rather than demanding that our governments start taking adaptive and mitigative measures for heat seriously, we’ve resorted to popularising “coolcations” on social media.
A “coolcation”, for those of you who do not know, is a vacation where the destination is purposefully chosen to escape extreme heat.
The fundamental issue with Europe’s exponentially worsening heat crisis, is that we, citizens, are not responding with the urgency that change necessitates. When confronted with an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, we choose to concentrate on the things that we as individuals can control, such as your location in the hottest months of the year, rather than thinking as a collective. The “coolcation” epitomises this dysfunctional response.
Social media has provided us with simple solutions! The “coolcation” is an easy way out, one that allows us to satisfy our individual, short-term need to seek refuge in lower temperatures. Too hot to travel to Madrid in July? Take a “coolcation” in Copenhagen or Stockholm instead! By simply redirecting the high levels of tourism in Europe into cooler parts of the continent, we distract ourselves from the fact that other places are suffering, and so are the people who live there.
Of course, it is all relative. Whilst 29 degrees in Denmark might be cool for someone escaping the sweltering 44-degree heat of Spain, it does not mean Denmark is exempt from extreme heat. In their own climate, they too are experiencing unprecedented temperature spikes.
Our individualistic society provides us with the shortsighted contentness of having found somewhere slightly “cooler” for a summer vacation. This way of thinking however, is not conducive to any kind of fear and action; it allows us to continue ignoring the ominous signs of this spreading heat.
Additionally, the solution of a “coolcation” is an elite one. It’s only available to those who can afford it. If you have the means to travel to Iceland in the middle of the summer, then you are privy to an escape from our incandescent continent. However, the millions of people who cannot make this choice are left to suffer with the aforementioned consequences.
Nevertheless, the disparity between those who can and cannot afford to “coolcation” is not synonymous with a distinction between who global warming will and will not affect. In fact, the only difference between a “cool-vacationer” and a climate refugee is that the former has the possibility to control the terms of their geographical displacement (for now), whereas the latter is not afforded that luxury.
This summer’s heatwaves should be a sign for Europe: just because you might fall into one category, doesn’t mean you are immune to the consequences of being in the other. It will catch up to all of us eventually.
By normalising “coolcations”, we also entrench a view of continental warming and climate change through the lens of the tourist, rather than that of the citizen. It’s not the concept of the “coolcation” that is problematic, but the context in which it has been prescribed. Whilst social media has framed the problem as being that it’s “too hot for Eurosummer”, the real issue lies in the fact that you have to consider taking a “coolcation” in the first place.
Shouldn’t we be more alarmed than we are about this?
As an added bonus, the harmful effects of climate change and mass tourism go hand-in-hand. The last thing that Europe needs right now is more tourism. This summer has demonstrated that over-tourism is highly harmful to local communities, whose existence is fundamental to safeguarding and protecting environments and their residents from heat and other extreme weather.
In a way, the “coolcation” is mass tourism rebranded. Rather than deciding, as a society, that tourism at high levels is unsustainable for both social and environmental reasons, we’ve allowed “coolcations” to become a preservational mechanism for it.
By continuing to support this negative synergy between climate change and mass tourism, we are not only choosing to remain shortsighted, but actively worsening our own conditions. Despite being an individualised solution, the coolcation’s long run impact is wide-reaching. It is not a neutral, guilt-free escape from extreme heat; by making the choice to take a “coolcation” due to the negligence of governing powers on climate issues, you contribute to the cumulative degradation of the very environment you desire. Therefore, there has never been a better time to be interested in the health and agility of your local home community, in the face of a life-threatening climate crisis.
Although the summer is over, it might be easier to ignore the problem of heat, but that does not mean we shouldn’t pay close attention to how it manifests in different seasons.
Right now, we are faced with the classic “frog-in-boiling water” metaphor. We, the frogs, continue to ignore that the water we are submerged in is heating at an unprecedented rate. The takeaway from this summer, for Europe, should be that we need to be afraid of what Mother Nature has in store for us. We need to constantly remind ourselves that we just experienced the coolest (temperature wise) summer that we will ever experience. We must urgently begin thinking collectively about how to deal with extreme heat.
And PLEASE. Let’s be anxious about climate change. It’s coming for our lifestyles, our health, and our nourishment. Rather than sticking a frog leg out of the water and convincing ourselves that the pot isn’t that hot, we need to realise what is happening and work together to turn the stove off.
