France rethinks heatwave safety amid soaring temperatures

Half of France is now on amber heat alert as the nation faces mounting heatwaves and begins to change how it combats extreme weather.

Traditionally, French homes were built to keep out the winter cold, not the intensifying summer heat. Now, as brutal heatwaves sweep the country, many residents said they are struggling to cope with the heat.

"It was really intense. I used to live on a third-floor apartment, but I bought the sixth floor just under the zinc roof. I never thought that we would have heatwaves as intense, and that went on for so many days," said Meera, a new homeowner.

Like thousands of Paris residents, Meera lives beneath one of the city's iconic zinc rooftops. Even after insulating her apartment, the space became unbearable during the latest heatwave.

"I've never considered air conditioning, but I am for the first time in my life considering it. I think it's going to be a necessity to stay in this apartment," said Meera.

For years, many French people saw air conditioning as unnecessary, even wasteful. But after repeated heatwaves, experts said these views are rapidly changing.

"For years, those units were not considered as necessary in France, that was a kind of superfluous luxury equipment that you would use two or three days a year," said Francois Gemenne, climate scientist and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead author.

However, climate scientists warn that air conditioning alone will not solve the problem. France now faces summers that are not only hotter, but also longer.

"Regarding the buildings, regarding the city itself, we will need to have more trees. We will need to have more public swimming pools as well. Some of the work schedules will need to be adapted, and potentially one can even ask, is it a good idea to have end of the year exams in the month of June in school, which is one of the hottest months of the year," said Gemenne.

Implementing such sweeping changes takes time and money.

"The economy, the city, was conceived for a climate that no longer exists, which means that a lot of things will need considerable investment. And the difficulty, usually, is that the government has no money, the city has no money, and therefore we always run the risk of taking emergency measures, whereas what we need would be long-term measures to adapt," said Gemenne.

As France faces the rest of the summer, the challenge is no longer just how to get through the next heatwave but how to prepare for the hotter summers yet to come.

France rethinks heatwave safety amid soaring temperatures

Thailand's rural tradition of elephant stewardship is rapidly vanishing as livelihoods change and younger people pursue opportunities elsewhere, threatening centuries of irreplaceable elephant-care knowledge.

For generations, mahouts in the region have passed on their tradition of closely bonding with the elephants they care for. Taweesuk Lapsan is one of a dwindling number of mahouts who diligently carry on the practice.

Long before the sun rises over the fields, he was already at work, gathering bundles of food for an animal that had been part of his family for generations.

"We've had elephants since our grandparents' and great-grandparents' generations. We've been around elephants our whole lives, so we have a strong connection and experience in raising them. That's how we've been able to live with them like this," the mahout said.

Caring for his elephant was not merely a job, but an inherited way of life. Years of daily coexistence forged an intimate bond defined by an intuitive understanding of subtle movements, sounds, and hesitations that take a lifetime to master.

"We live together like this. It's like a family. We're like family; we always go through things together. Until we breathe our last, it just depends on who lives longer," said Taweesuk.

Mahouts and elephants have been woven into parts of Thailand's cultural landscape, from rural livelihoods and traditional practices. However, the tradition has been upended by the collapse of the commercial logging industry and the rapid expansion of tourism.

As fewer young people follow in their families' footsteps, conservationists warned that an intricate system of animal care, refined over centuries, faces gradual extinction.

"When a mahout disappears, they are replaced by people who simply come in to take care of the elephants, essentially, elephant keepers. There are differences in terms of the bond between the keeper and the elephant, the cultural aspects, and the passing down of knowledge and traditions from one generation to the next. So we are concerned about the quality," said Parntep Ratanakorn, Secretary General of the Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand.

Taweesuk said that his daughters may choose paths far removed from the stables, a decision he fully respects. As the practice fades, experts warn the loss extends far beyond a vanishing cultural heritage, threatening the daily welfare safety nets upon which captive elephants rely.

Thailand's centuries-old elephant care tradition face extinction as livelihoods change