Is ‘AC guilt’ justified? French papers divided over use of air conditioning amid heatwave

Alyssa with the papers. She has been digging into reports on Russia’s ongoing disinformation efforts. Alyssa, that’s right, Stuart. Uh, I have here Tech Magazine Wired, uh, that says that the Kremlin is using free AI tools to fuel pro-Russian narratives in many countries abroad, but most notably in Ukraine. And what that this dis this information consists of is of course pictures and videos. But not only there are also QR codes and fake media pages. And what’s new this time is the intensity and the sophistication of the fakes. And the paper cites a report uh that says that between September 2024 and May 2025, the amount of that kind of content has increased dramatically and is being viewed by millions of people around the world. But the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign is not only international, but it’s also happening domestically. um Russian independent paper. The Moscow Times here reports that the Kremlin has launched an online bot campaign inside Russia to justify the country’s biggest utility rate hikes in years. Um, and more than 10,000 bot comments were analyzed and many of them were defending the hikes, framing them as beneficial or simply uh routine for the country, claiming that wages have also been increased. Let’s move to the US for this next one. President Donald Trump reigniting fears of a global trade war. This time he’s pushing Japan, as Charl was telling us, to agree to a trade deal by July the 9th. That’s right. Financial Times here uh reports that Trump threatened to raise uh tariffs on Japan yet again and as we heard this time uh it’s by 30 to 35% and Japan today here is focusing on Trump’s complaints about Japan not importing enough uh American rice and the paper says that Trump singled out Japan in a way in a way he rarely does online. Come on, Liz. It can’t just be about rise coming. How are the papers analyzing this? That’s right. Well, uh, the Wall Street Journal here is actually explaining the situation by, uh, looking at the car industry, citing people familiar with the matter. It writes that Americans might demand a cap on the number of vehicles exported by Japan into the US. uh but uh Japanese officials are standing their ground and they are refusing any deal uh that preserves Trump’s 25% auto tariff and the paper then says that the Trump yes he used uh the rice argument on his platform through social despite Japan’s imports worth uh hundreds of thousands of tons of uh US rice annually and finally there is the Japan Times here that asks the question is the shine coming off the US Japan golden age. Uh the paper says that only in January Donald Trump described the Japanese the the relationship between the two countries as a friendship like few others. And less than uh uh half a year later we see that uh the golden age is um is well crumbling due to the stalling trade talks and division over what’s happening in the Middle East. The paper says let’s stay in Japan for a moment. The rigid hierarchies of Japanese companies are pushing people to find innovative ways out. Yeah, that’s right. Uh the Washington Post here reports that uh if you’re trying to avoid your boss but want to quit your job, you can hire a proxy quitter company to do the job for you. And many Japanese are doing this because they don’t want to face uh their boss and have the awkward conversation. And the paper says that people use these surveys because many of them have been harassed at work for instance or they weren’t uh allowed to express their concerns freely due to Japan’s strict work culture. Stuart, interesting idea. Finally, let’s change the topic. We’ve been talking about the scorching heat wave. It’s igniting a very divisive debate uh here in France, isn’t it? That’s right. And the debate is all about the AC. Uh on the one hand there the proac columns including this one in French right-wing paper L figuro. It notes that yes more and more French people uh are thinking of investing in uh in an air conditioner and not without what it calls a certain amount of guilt. Ligaro asks however is this guilt really justified? According to liberation yes it is. Uh the French left-wing paper says that we should search for alternatives to cool down our homes and the paper quotes experts who say that the adopting the energy consuming AC is a sign of bad adaptation to climate change. And last but not least, the debate is also happening in the workplace. Yes, definitely as it is here in France 24. There’s a division between the proac um staff and those who just want to keep the windows open. And French financial daily leo writes that uh different people have different body temperatures depending on sex and their health conditions. For instance, that’s why that we can have so many different opinions. Uh so adjusting the air conditioning can indeed create high tension. Stuart, I don’t know which team you’re on. Uh well the trouble is a lot of people are flocking to work because it’s so much cooler here than it is at home. It is very difficult.

PRESS REVIEW – Wednesday, July 2: Russia is ramping up AI disinformation abroad, but also at home, where it’s using bots to justify high utility rate hikes. In the US, President Donald Trump is reigniting fears of a global trade war amid tensions with Japan. Also in Japan, “proxy quitter” companies help workers avoid an awkward conversation with their bosses. Finally, the current heatwave is igniting fierce pro- and anti-AC debates in France. Is “AC guilt” justified? 
##heatwave ##France ##globalwarming

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23 comments

  1. If American companies would build decent cars maybe they could be competitive. When I go to the United states, which is no longer in my books, and I have to rent a car and it's an American car, those damn things inevitably break down. I think the last decent cars that were built were in the 60s

  2. ridiculous! whole Arab world is using ACs all year around. as well as south Asia. but when Europeans does that for few summer months, then bad bad bad white people! making a climate change.

  3. Free AI tools to push Russian talking points through the interwebs … being reported on DW's youtube channel …
    Irony anyone ?
    (literally the most pro-Russian comments section I have ever encountered, and I've gone by RT a couple of times !!)

  5. As a native Californian, I can promise you that AC is not the answer. When you need it the most the units will fail as. will the source of power. There are better ways if you dare to think outside the box and stop following the herd.

  8. For the first many years of my life no AC was necessary here in New England. Then temps began to rise in summer, in the early 2000s, combined with stifling humidity. Pavement, concrete buildings and metal objects like cars hold the heat absorbed during the day. Nights can actually be warmer than some summer days as that heat is released overnight. "Heat islands" in suburbs and cities are a thing now. Those are areas where the sun heats solid things and the cooler night air fails to bring temps down. I can't survive in this old 3rd floor attic apartment without AC from July to September now. It gets up to 40 C. regularly. Not survivable for humans over a prolonged period.

  9. Funny Japan doesn't import very many cars into the States for the past few decades. Because they have plants here and make them. More distracting news from the bigger news story.

  11. What guilt. Just use the AC and try to stay alive. Everyone is not born same. Some cannot bear heat.

  12. I don't see why this needs to be politicized or why a choice needs to be made between AC and the alternative cooling methods. They are not mutually exclusive, instead, they are complementary, and both essential for health. Passive cooling makes it possible to avoid using AC most of the time, but it's very difficult for passive cooling to suffice in 40C weather. Using ACs for some 10-20 days a year really isn't that catastrophic for the environment and definitely better than the disastrous health impacts that overwhelming heat incurs. And btw, the loss of productivity and healthcare costs induced have significant environmental costs as well.

  13. Japan: just let him build a Reviera by the Sea over there, complete with a golf course
    🤣🤣🤣🤣

  14. France gets 70% of its electricity from nuclear. They should feel no guilt, only pride, as they set their AC as low as they want.

  15. When you're too hot your body limits your brain activity, (higher reasoning goes first when the prefrontal cortex is throttled). Thats why crime rates go up in heat waves. Maybe if the writers at Liberacion turned the AC on they could see how dumb it is to shame AC usage when 70% of France's electricity is from nuclear.

  17. It's complicated.
    You still find central heating via oil heat in many apartments in France. Even wood or pellet heating in homes. So many trees in my State are ground up and made into pellets.
    The correct level of Insulation is not a given.
    Heat pumps need correctly installed Insulation, new windows and good airflow to be truly efficient.
    What's the fastest way to combat man made climate change?
    Don't eat meat.
    Before whining do a search on how moving away from meat is the fastest, cheapest and morally correct answer.

  19. Russia is pushing pro-Russian narrative??? That’s disgusting! And thank you for worrying about our utility rates. BTW we, Russians, still pay peanuts in comparison to the self-proclaimed democracies

  20. The government have been giving out Free reversable heat pumps which consume a lot of electricity in the winter trying to heat your home when it`s minus 2 outside and is still cold inside, now in the summer you can switch them to AC mode and use a lot of electricity to cool your home as well, meanwhile the government owned EDF are loving the amount of money people have to pay for their electricity bill.

  21. Not only AC, but also should stop using ICE Cars 🚗 🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗 mortorcycles 🏍 🏍 🏍 🏍 🏍 🏍 🏍 and airplanes ✈️ ✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️ and mass production factories 🏭🏭🏭🏭🏭🏭 they cause airpollution global warming and nosie pollution. Unliviable cities …

    Should use trains across continental or local or regional 🚄 🚄 🚄 🚄 🚄

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