Europe's heatwave exposes more than rising temperatures

Heatwaves that were once considered exceptional are becoming increasingly common across Europe. Buildings designed for cooler centuries now face temperatures their architects never imagined. Customs shaped by mild summers are being tested by a changing climate.

Perhaps Europe's relationship with air conditioning will eventually change as well.

Until then, whenever another heatwave arrives, don't be surprised to find fountains crowded with families, shopping malls filled with people who have nothing to buy, and metro trains carrying passengers with nowhere particular to go.

Sometimes the simplest way to understand a society is not by reading its laws or statistics, but by watching where people go when the temperature reaches 40 degrees.