Week 30: Forget About It, The Price of Transition and the Heatflation Crisis

Dear all,

Forget about it. The price is wrong. Heatflation. After all, the transition is all about the price we have to pay, both short and long-term. Forget about ideology, left, center, and right. Forget about morals and woketards, and forget about something dignified. Money, power, and the preservation of self-interest with the occasional "we are in this together" are meant to ease something that is not even anxiety—just a bad conscience. Forget about that too. We are in for a ride. We know it. Winners in a historical materiality competition. Those who die the wealthiest win.

In principle, only a few isolated indigenous communities in some parts of the world live in harmony with this planet. They usually have no notion of ownership and relate to nature in a rather non-romantic way. It feeds them, and it has to be feared and respected. They are, as we call it, decoupled from growth. The rest of us are not. And regardless of how much we try, the brutality of our way of living reminds us every day how fragile we are. It also reminds us that we are not who we think we are. Almost like the blues.

When the doors opened on Wednesday morning at Tokyo’s 10th annual Heat Solution expo, the temperature outside was nearing 35°C, and heatstroke warnings were issued across much of Japan. Weather apps added to the urgency, predicting a tornado would soon hit the capital. The pervasive sense of environmental chaos is evident, and the expo starkly highlights the growing economic divide over the cost of staying cool. The well-attended trade show took place against a backdrop of global floods, fires, and droughts, just three days after what may have been the hottest day ever recorded globally. Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, foresaw more record-breaking heat as we venture into “truly uncharted territory.” It's an ideal time, despite the current and impending suffering, for employers to consider innovations like the Iceman Pro-X self-cooling work vest, bottom-chilling office chairs, hydrating ice slurry, and interior mist-emitters—all designed to help workers endure increasingly harsh conditions. If, of course, they or we can afford them.

For all the innovation and salesmanship on display, the atmosphere at Heat Solution is deeply unsettling. Among the aisles of companies showcasing their anti-heat products, there's a pervasive sense of surrender. While corporations, governments, and international organizations discuss climate change mitigation, net-zero emissions, and other macro-level strategies to avert disaster, the immediate message to factory owners, food producers, construction companies, and other businesses is clear: the remedy you need now is palliative, not preventive.