Romans sweating through worst heat wave in more than 60 years
ROME — With the Italian capital gripped by a crippling drought and its most severe heat wave since the mid-1950s, analysts say the city government needs to make structural changes to avoid the worst impacts from future bouts with extreme heat.
Many other places in Italy have witnessed extreme heat waves this summer, which also sparked wildfires that endanger the local residents.
On Thursday, a heat wave that led to wildfires claimed the life of one elderly woman and forced the closure of a major highway.
The 79-year-old woman was found dead in a field next to her home in Sant’Omero in the central region of Abruzzo, who was apparently killed by flames that engulfed two hectares of surrounding farmland.
In the capital, everybody feels the burning wave. Analysts said that this year will likely match 1956 as the most intense summer over the past century.
High temperatures in Rome have reached at least 40 C for more than a week, with more of the same forecast for next week.
That, coupled with the driest spring in more than 60 years, the heat has sparked fears of water rationing during the high season for tourists.
To combat the problem, Rome’s city government and government of Lazio, the region that includes Rome, have issued advice for residents and visitors, including: Avoid being outside during the hottest part of the day, drink more water, avoid alcoholic beverages, and wear light clothing.
Climate change
The city has publicized emergency telephone numbers for those who might witness someone suffering from heat stroke, with specific instructions for the elderly and those in poor health.
According to Silvio Gualdi, a climatologist, one of the reasons the heat feels more intense in big cities is because of the quantity of heat-generating vehicles along with surfaces covered by cement and asphalt that store and reflect heat.
Gualdi said cities can lessen the impact of intense heat by planting more trees and maintaining parks and other green areas that help cool nearby areas.
Improving public transportation so residents and visitors are more likely to leave their cars at home can also help, he said.
“Because of climate change these periods of intense heat are only going to become more common,” Gualdi said.
“What would have been an extremely rare weather event a generation ago happens much more frequently today, and all indications are that in the future they will become the norm.”
A significant water shortage is also a big factor in Rome this year. The city has been shutting down public drinking fountains in order to save water, and it only narrowly averted a plan to shut off the water supply in residential areas for a third of each day.
The city has been forced to rely heavily on its backup water supply, Lake Bracciano, north of Rome, and experts say if water levels there get too low it will permanently damage the surrounding ecosystem.
According to Alfonso Perrotta, from the Rome chapter of the Italian Forum for Public Water, Rome’s water supply system should be enough to carry the city through even heat waves and droughts if it was as efficient as it should be.
Perrotta said it was difficult to calculate how much water is wasted in Rome’s distribution system, but media reports the number at between 30 and 40 percent.
PARIS — To check the beehives he has set up on the roof of the sprawling Monnaie de Paris on the banks of the River Seine, Audric de Campeau slips a harness over his tancolored trousers.
The beekeeper then hooks his leg harness to a metal cable anchored to the roof’s edge, running the length of the entire structure.
“It’s not dangerous, but my insurance company insists on it,” he said.
Elegantly dressed in a tweed jacket, pink shirt and straw hat customized with a protec- tive net, he steps carefully between the rafters to reach the three beehives he set on the flat side of the roof.
From there, the 34-year-old will head to the roof of the neighboring Institut de France, another historic building with a majestic domed center.
He will don the same leg harness on the rooftop of the Boucheron fine jewelry boutique overlooking the Place Vendome square, on the other side of the Seine, before making his way to his three beehives.
In the distance, the Eiffel Tower rises far above the slanted Parisian rooftops.
“I’m lucky, my office is in the sky,” he says, smiling, adding that he does have “to climb a lot of stairs”.
De Campeau is an urban beekeeper, and his beehives sit atop monuments and office buildings and on rooftop terraces.
The French capital boasts more than 700 beehives, according to 2015 figures, most located on rooftops such as those of the haute cuisine Tour d’Argent restaurant, the Grand Palais and the Musee d’Orsay.
More and more companies are also adding beehives to the tops of their office buildings.
Beehives have long sat on the roof of the Paris Opera, and the Luxembourg Gardens has had beehives since 1856.
De Campeau sees his mission as twofold: Take care of the health of his bees while also producing what he calls “liquid gold” for his company, Le Miel de Paris (Paris Honey).
Depending on the agreement he has with building owners, either he sells the honey or they use it. The 200ml bottles retail for $41.
At the Monnaie de Paris, chef Guy Savoy uses de Campeau’s honey in his restaurant desserts.
Urban rooftops are one of the ways the city is fighting against the “worrying” decline in the bee population, a trend France recognized early on despite its elevated use of pesticides.
Pesticide use
The country is one of Europe’s leading users of pesticides.
The more pesticides are used, the more pests develop resistance to them, which leads to even more intensive use of pesticides.
Bees around the world — especially in Europe and North America — have been decimated in recent years by a mysterious blight called “colony collapse disorder”, in which entire populations or die out.
Research points an accusing finger at agricultural pesticides, viruses, fungi, parasites, poor weather, malnutrition because of fewer flowers — or some combination of them all.
According to the EU economic and social advisory committee, “nearly half of wild bee species have disappeared in just 30 years”.
But more than just the survival of the bees is at stake.
Scientists have calculated that 1.4 billion jobs, and threequarters of crops, depend on pollinators, mainly bees.
All told, there are some 20,000 bee species that fertilize more than 90 percent of the world’s 107 major crops. disappear