France Enacts Climate Change Lockdowns

The Gironde department within the Bordeaux region of France banned all outdoor public events on June 17 in a response to an ongoing heatwave.

The lockdown also includes indoor venues without air conditioning and has affected all large public gatherings. Cancelled events range from concerts to a planned June 18 “Resistance” celebration honoring Charles de Gaulle’s call for France to resist the Nazis. Exceptions to the ban will be made for weddings.

The push for governmental control in response to a heatwave have mirrored the lockdowns placed on the French people due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered severe and strict lockdowns over the virus. The lockdowns lead to unprecedented protests and riots in response.

In July of 2021, Macron announced that the country would require vaccine passports and embraced an alarmism that lasted through the omicron variant. At the same time, as the New York Times reports, President Macron was positioning France to be a “a global champion in the fight against climate change.”

In the summer of 2021, Macron and the French National Assembly passed a bill that “would require more vegetarian meals at state-funded canteens, block expansion of France’s airports and curb wasteful plastics packaging.”

The bill also introduced “ecocide” into law, making it a crime punishable of up to 10 years in jail for harming the environment. Macron then made activism on climate change a central component of his successful 2022 re-election campaign.

The recent French lockdowns over the heatwave could announce the government’s initiate to act on what Macron sees as a mandate for governance on climate change.

The BBC writes that “climate change is causing global temperatures to rise. Greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, released into Earth’s atmosphere in large volumes are trapping the sun’s heat, causing the planet to warm. This has brought more extreme weather, including record-breaking high temperatures across the world.”

According to the EPA, it is true that heat waves are expected to become more common as the Earth’s climate warms, but unusually hot days and multi-day heat waves are a natural part of day-to-day variation in weather.

This particular heatwave can be traced to a burst of hot air which migrated north from Africa, and on June 16 the Bordeaux French region reported temperatures as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius.

According to Reuters, government officials are stressing cause for alarm and preparing to enact more lockdown measures.

Local prefect Fabienne Buccio told France Bleu radio, “Everyone now faces a health risk.” Newly Macron appointed Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that other southern departments were under high alert or “vigilance rouge” in response to the heat.