--- title: "Event About How to Adapt to Extreme Heat Canceled Due to Brutal Heatwave" description: "A Wednesday event at the London School of Economics about how to adapt to extreme heat had to be cancelled due to a heatwave." date: "2026-06-27" modified: "2026-06-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/event-adapt-extreme-heat-canceled-heatwave" categories: - "Future Society" --- # Event About How to Adapt to Extreme Heat Canceled Due to Brutal Heatwave ![A human arm is emerging from a smooth, pink, amorphous mound against a bright orange background with a large red circle behind the arm. The arm is reaching upward with fingers slightly curled.]() *A grotesque illustration featuring a human being melted into a pile of goo with a hand reaching out.* Europe is in the grips of a [devastating and deadly heatwave](), shattering temperature records for the month of June across the continent. The United Kingdom, a nation known for its generally moderate and rainy summers, has been hit hard. In one particularly ironic development, a Wednesday event at the London School of Economics titled "Extreme Heat: Improving governance and strengthening action around the world" had to be cancelled because of — you guessed it — record temperatures in the capital of just shy of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. As the [*BBC* reports](), organizers from the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance lamented that the university's facilities simply weren't ready to provide sufficient cooling, "like most buildings in London." Sheer irony aside, the alliance is using the opportunity to send an important message. "The magnitude of future impacts from extreme heat will largely depend on global mitigation efforts, local heat governance, and response plans," a spokesperson for the group told the *BBC*. "Cities like London have unique potential to adapt to changing heat risks through effective risk management at multiple levels, connecting policies and incentives, and strengthening community adaptation capacity." The UK capital city is melting before our very eyes, a devastating predicament for a largely unprepared population not accustomed to record temperatures. "London isn't just calling," [said]() UN secretary general Antonio Guterres at a separate climate event earlier this week. "It's cooking." Hundreds of schools have had to close across southern England as temperatures kept climbing, per the *BBC*, while users of the London Underground had to endure service disruptions amidst stifling heat. France is [experiencing even hotter temperatures](), with Paris hitting a June record of 105.6 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday. "We are just at the start of seeing an increase in people going to emergency wards," French Health Minister Stephanie Rist [told reporters](). It's a familiar predicament across the globe. Climate scientists have warned that this summer will be particularly extreme, thanks to a "[Super El Niño]()," a natural climate pattern characterized by warming ocean temperatures triggering extreme weather. While there's no evidence climate change is directly fueling the frequency or intensity of El Niño events, as the [World Meteorological Organization points out](), human-caused global warming can amplify their associated impacts by warming ocean temperatures and increasing the availability of more moisture in the air. In short, what we're seeing now is only the beginning of what is bound to be an even more brutal summer — which could complicate our efforts to get ahead of the problem. **More on the heatwave:** [*French Open Descends Into Hellish Nightmare Thanks to Climate Change*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()