Heat and Panic - A Summer Farce in Several Acts
It's hot. Once again. The asphalt shimmers, the angry citizens sweat, and the thermostat in the living room shows 39 degrees - on "eco" mode. The news is in overdrive, climate scientists are sounding the alarm, politicians nod gravely into microphones, and somewhere in Brandenburg, a patch of forest that was a summer camp just yesterday is burning. The great heat panic is back - and with it the entire cast of experts, doomsayers, outraged citizens, and the relaxed.
By Katharina Brenner
By Katharina Brenner
Act I: Denial
Let's start with the climate deniers - those brave guardians of the combustion engine, whose greatest virtue is closing the window even in the sauna because "it was hot in the old days too, and no one complained." They sit in their gardens with lawns that look like frozen peas, grill steaks that still exhale CO2, and post on Facebook: "Global warming can't be that bad - I still wear a jacket when I drive my car!"
The heatwave, they say, is just a seasonal misunderstanding - like the melting ice caps, the forest fires, and the dried-up riverbed of the Danube. Nothing to worry about. "It was warm in the Middle Ages too," they proclaim with the confidence of a historian who's gathered all their knowledge from a YouTube comment. The temperature rises, but their worldview remains ice-cold.
Act II: The Apocalypse
On the other side: the activists. Highly moral, deeply concerned - and spectacularly bad-tempered. The world is ending, and by tomorrow at 3:38 p.m. at the latest. Before that, there's just enough time to sign a petition and glue oneself to an SUV. Climate policy is too slow, society too sluggish, and anyone who doesn't want to abolish capitalism at least three times a week clearly hasn't grasped the scale of the catastrophe.
In this world, heat isn't weather - it's punishment. For air travel, for fast fashion, for fossil thoughts. Buying strawberries in Berlin in February? Sin! The neighbor secretly watering the garden? Environmental crime! Grandma switching on the fan during her summer holiday? Colonialism.
Their conviction is strong, their sense of humor minimal. But at least their moral compass is firmly fixed - like a protest banner strapped to a highway bridge.
Act III: The Confused Middle
Somewhere in between wanders the average citizen. The heating has been switched to a heat pump, the car is now a hybrid with bad reception, and the balcony plants are watered with rainwater from a bucket fondly called the "climate pool." People try. People sweat with dignity.
But the debate about heat and climate has long since become a question of faith - and that's what's really making this summer exhausting. While the temperatures measurably rise, the level of discussion sinks to tropical depths: humid, heated, and with the constant feeling of being swept up by a hurricane of half-knowledge.
Act IV: The Punchline (if any)
Perhaps what's needed is neither panic nor trivialization, but something rather old-fashioned: moderation. The willingness to take climate change seriously without immediately developing a guilt complex that makes you feel bad for switching on the toaster. And at the same time, the ability to recognize nonsense for what it is - for example, when someone claims that CO2 is a "natural vitamin" that is removed from the air when too many trees grow.
The summer stays hot - and society remains divided between heat escape and heat fantasy. Maybe it would be a start if, at 38 degrees, we simply shared an ice cream instead of morally clobbering each other.
Because yes, the situation is serious. But anyone who loses their sense of humor in the heat has already lost. And who knows - maybe it's precisely humor that will one day bring us back to the right temperature.
July 03, 2025
@ Katharina Brenner (b. 1981) is a political scientist, publicist, and author. She taught political theory and democracy research at the universities of Leipzig and Maastricht before specializing as a freelance essayist, moderator, and commentator on questions of liberal democracy, political radicalization, and the culture of public debate.
Brenner regularly publishes essays and commentaries in leading German-language media, is working on a book series titled "Democracy on Trial", and is known for her clear, confrontational style that takes a stand without becoming ideological. She is regarded as an independent voice between political camps and is committed to a culture of debate that is both combative and open.
She currently lives in Berlin and is working on her second non-fiction book, "Say What Is - And Why It Still Remains Complicated."
HIER GEHTS ZUM NEUEN BUCH
TICKET´S ZUR SHOW "ER IST WIEDER DA"
Let's start with the climate deniers - those brave guardians of the combustion engine, whose greatest virtue is closing the window even in the sauna because "it was hot in the old days too, and no one complained." They sit in their gardens with lawns that look like frozen peas, grill steaks that still exhale CO2, and post on Facebook: "Global warming can't be that bad - I still wear a jacket when I drive my car!"
The heatwave, they say, is just a seasonal misunderstanding - like the melting ice caps, the forest fires, and the dried-up riverbed of the Danube. Nothing to worry about. "It was warm in the Middle Ages too," they proclaim with the confidence of a historian who's gathered all their knowledge from a YouTube comment. The temperature rises, but their worldview remains ice-cold.
Act II: The Apocalypse
On the other side: the activists. Highly moral, deeply concerned - and spectacularly bad-tempered. The world is ending, and by tomorrow at 3:38 p.m. at the latest. Before that, there's just enough time to sign a petition and glue oneself to an SUV. Climate policy is too slow, society too sluggish, and anyone who doesn't want to abolish capitalism at least three times a week clearly hasn't grasped the scale of the catastrophe.
In this world, heat isn't weather - it's punishment. For air travel, for fast fashion, for fossil thoughts. Buying strawberries in Berlin in February? Sin! The neighbor secretly watering the garden? Environmental crime! Grandma switching on the fan during her summer holiday? Colonialism.
Their conviction is strong, their sense of humor minimal. But at least their moral compass is firmly fixed - like a protest banner strapped to a highway bridge.
Act III: The Confused Middle
Somewhere in between wanders the average citizen. The heating has been switched to a heat pump, the car is now a hybrid with bad reception, and the balcony plants are watered with rainwater from a bucket fondly called the "climate pool." People try. People sweat with dignity.
But the debate about heat and climate has long since become a question of faith - and that's what's really making this summer exhausting. While the temperatures measurably rise, the level of discussion sinks to tropical depths: humid, heated, and with the constant feeling of being swept up by a hurricane of half-knowledge.
Act IV: The Punchline (if any)
Perhaps what's needed is neither panic nor trivialization, but something rather old-fashioned: moderation. The willingness to take climate change seriously without immediately developing a guilt complex that makes you feel bad for switching on the toaster. And at the same time, the ability to recognize nonsense for what it is - for example, when someone claims that CO2 is a "natural vitamin" that is removed from the air when too many trees grow.
The summer stays hot - and society remains divided between heat escape and heat fantasy. Maybe it would be a start if, at 38 degrees, we simply shared an ice cream instead of morally clobbering each other.
Because yes, the situation is serious. But anyone who loses their sense of humor in the heat has already lost. And who knows - maybe it's precisely humor that will one day bring us back to the right temperature.
July 03, 2025
@ Katharina Brenner (b. 1981) is a political scientist, publicist, and author. She taught political theory and democracy research at the universities of Leipzig and Maastricht before specializing as a freelance essayist, moderator, and commentator on questions of liberal democracy, political radicalization, and the culture of public debate.
Brenner regularly publishes essays and commentaries in leading German-language media, is working on a book series titled "Democracy on Trial", and is known for her clear, confrontational style that takes a stand without becoming ideological. She is regarded as an independent voice between political camps and is committed to a culture of debate that is both combative and open.
She currently lives in Berlin and is working on her second non-fiction book, "Say What Is - And Why It Still Remains Complicated."
HIER GEHTS ZUM NEUEN BUCH
TICKET´S ZUR SHOW "ER IST WIEDER DA"
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