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The heatwaves that have hit Romania in recent years are no surprise, according to a false narrative linked to global warming
Fake: In communism, the heat was combated with prosperity
NEWS: “I have vivid memories of the scorching summers of my childhood. Too much sun never killed anyone. […] Prior to the 90s, we had no air conditioning, merely a plastic fan of such poor quality, that its margins often melted and it deformed from one year to the next (I’m referring to the lucky few who could count themselves fortunate to have one!). […] At the time, temperatures would often exceed 35 degrees in the shade, but we knew that around noon it was better if stayed in, wore white clothing or light fabric. If we had to go out, we always had to wear a hat or a cap, carry bottles of water (which we kept in the freezer overnight, of course) and never linger too long in one place, in open spaces. […] Who is really affected by extreme heat? The old people they speak about in the news should know better, particularly because they experienced those times, that walking at noon with 40 degrees out is not a good thing! They will pass out, get heatstroke and dehydrate, mostly because they have forgotten what they’ve learned in their childhood. […] The Polar ice-cream, the pints of bear and dispenser juice were commonplace in those scorching summers. Fresh fruit bought at the market, grapes, apricots and ice-cold watermelon, the occasional moist handkerchief on the hot cheeks and the sandals… these all came in handy, keeping us cool even in the hottest days of July. […] Nevertheless, these headlines are killing us. Summers are deadly. The sun brings the end of the world. July heat scorches everything in its path. The fields are burning. Yes. Just like in ’86!”
NARRATIVE: Long periods of extreme heat are normal in Romania.
BACKGROUND: Global warming is the continuous increase in average air temperatures close to the ground as well as ocean temperatures. The phenomenon has been acknowledged by most scientists and decision makers. To date, there are various explanations as to what is causing it, and the widely accepted view is that global warming is tied to human activities, particularly the emission of carbon gas resulted from the burning of fossil fuels. Regardless of its causes, global warming produces profound effects in a plethora of fields, from impacting human health, making certain animal species extinct to causing extreme weather phenomena and melting ice caps, thus triggering an increase in ocean and sea levels. As a result, combating the effects of global warming and related climate change is one of the most important points of global agendas, both at the level of individual governments as well as for local or international organizations.
Although the effects of the increase in average global temperatures have become more frequent and easy to notice, climate denialism is gaining ground, becoming transparent also in a genuine “disinformation pandemic”. The narrative about a global cabal pursuing evil goals under the guise of combating climate change is not at all new: over the years, Veridica has debunked several such fake news, such as those claiming that the eco-dictatorship will push mankind back into the Middle Ages or others saying that in the future, people will have to pay in order to breathe clean air. As a rule, underlying such narratives is the fear that fighting climate change will impoverish the population, which will no longer afford to cover the costs of producing “green” energy. Additionally, people also fear that a strong campaign designed to curtail the effects of global warming might ignore people’s economic liberties, allowing governments to gain too much power in their relations to civil society. In recent years, this theme has also been used by Russian propaganda to turn away public attention from the invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin’s expansionist policies.
PURPOSE: To stir social unrest and cause uprisings, to restrict and even stop actions that affect the economic and business interests of sectors operating with pollutants, as well as to promote anti-Western rhetoric.
It was neither better nor warmer under communism
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The all-time record-high temperature reported in Romania was 44.5 degrees Celsius, according to measurements conducted on August 10, 1951 in Brăila County at the former weather station in Ion Sion. Over the years, however, maximum annual temperatures exceeding 40 degrees were also reported in 1946 in Strehaia (43.5 degrees), in 1950 in Jimbolia (42.5 degrees), in 2007 in Calafat and Bechet (44.3 and 44.2 degrees), and even in 1896 in Giurgiu (42.8 degrees). These highs were however an exception to the rule, expanding over very brief periods of time, of a few hours at the most. For instance, on August 10, 1951, records preserved in the archive of the National Meteorological Agency point to measurements taken at the Ion Sion weather station, which indicated 28 degrees Celsius at 8 AM and 31.4 degrees at 8 PM, which was much lower compared to the peak reported at 2 PM.
The climate in Romania has changed significantly compared to the 1980s: heatwaves now extend over the course of whole weeks, rainfall is scarce and limited, whereas extreme weather phenomena have become commonplace. 40 years ago, temperatures very seldom exceeded 35 degrees in summertime, whereas snowfall and freezing temperatures would start to appear in mid-December, if not earlier. Evidence of that is also the fact that several all-time lows date from 70-80 years ago, while many high temperature records have been broken in the last 20 years. Statistics shows that the annual average temperature in Romania has increased by 2.41 degrees Celsius in the last 60 years. At the same time, the average annual temperature increase varied between 0.7 and 1.1 degrees Celsius in the 2001-2030 period compared to 1961-1990. The average temperature in Romania stood at approximately 10.6 degrees Celsius in the 20th century. After 2007, it went up to 11.23 degrees in 2013 and 12.14 in 2019. According to official data, the warmest years of the last half-century were 2015, 2022, 2020 and 2019, while 1976, 1980, 1993 and 1985 were the coldest, which is a direct reference to the period the article invokes.
In fact, without providing any official data, measurements or statistics to substantiate its claims, the article is nothing but a nostalgic account of what childhood looked like in communism, fueled by vague recollections of hot summers. In fact, the author of the article has over the years promoted other similar fake news, having published several articles evoking her childhood in an idyllic and idealized tone, completely at odds with present-day realities dominated by capitalist consumerism and lacking in any real social interaction between children. Moreover, the article also includes a number of historical inaccuracies (which we hope were not deliberate), such as 1980s Romania having juice dispensers or bottled water, which Romanians would drink to cool off and hydrate – these two types of drinks entered the marked after 1990, with the introduction of PET bottles in stores.
However, the author’s most cynical remark is “Too much sun never killed anyone”. Contrary to the author’s unknowledgeable opinion, heat poses serious risks to human health. In 2022 alone, over 15,000 people died to extreme heat in Europe, while the city of Cluj-Napoca in Romania recorded 32 deaths per hundred thousand population, caused by extreme heat, ranking first in a standing of 93 European cities.
To conclude, data referring to global warming has grown increasingly frequent and worrisome with respect to the future of the global climate. In an analysis published by the BBC, the British public broadcaster mentions a series of four climate records broken this year: July 6, 2023 was the hottest day in July ever measured based on average temperatures worldwide – 17.08 degrees. June 2023 was also the hottest month ever recorded in history, marking a 1.47-degree increase compared to the pre-industrial era. Another record is represented by the rise in ocean temperatures, which exceeded the levels recorded for the months of May, June and July. In the North Atlantic, temperatures in the water levels off the western coast of Ireland were by 4-5 degrees higher than average. And finally, the Antarctic sea ice has hit an all-time low in July, experts estimating an extent 19 times larger than the surface of Great Britain has disappeared compared to the average ice extent recorded over 1981-2010.
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