logo
It's paradise lost as climate change transforms European summers

It's paradise lost as climate change transforms European summers

Boston Globe14-07-2025
As southern Europeans dream of fjords, the traditional hot spots and fixtures of travel agency package deals no longer seem so worthwhile. Last week, despite temperatures breaking across much of the continent, experts and officials warned that the next heatwave would arrive soon, endangering vulnerable locals and prompting tourists to question what they had gotten themselves into. Even activists seeking to free their cities from the scourge of over-tourism saw no silver lining to the brutal conditions.
'It's hell,' said Daniel Pardo Rivacoba, who lives in Barcelona, and who spoke for a group fighting over-tourism — and its climate-change fueling flights. He saw the scorching sun not as an ally to keep the tourists away, but as a common enemy that would melt them both.
Advertisement
Last year, Pardo Rivacoba's group went viral by organizing demonstrations against over-tourism that included spraying tourists with water guns. This year, he said, it was so hot that 'we used the water guns on ourselves.'
Advertisement
Across the continent, June was the cruelest month so far. In Rome, tourists rotated around the city's sites as if spinning in an outdoor microwave. Opera singers in Verona passed out in their costumes.
But Spain has become the least fun-in-the-sun destination. Temperatures in the southwestern city of El Granado reached nearly 115 degrees (46 degrees Celsius), a national record for June. And there were other grim metrics. Last year, floods in Valencia killed more than 200 people; this year, experts say excess deaths, especially among the ailing and elderly, have risen sharply with the temperatures.
Climate change is also transforming the Spanish landscape, including the beach in Montgat, where increasingly frequent storms have washed away much of the sand.
'Every time we come, there is less and less sand,' said Susanna Martínez, 40, who had been going to the beach in Montgat with her family for a decade.
Barcelona, only a few miles away, has reported losing 30,000 square meters of sand over the past five years. Marina d'Or, outside Valencia, farther south, was envisioned by developers and families across Spain as a seaside resort, an emblem of the country's beach holidays. Now, storms have washed some of its beaches away, too. Experts have estimated the loss of hundreds of thousands of square meters of beach across the country, and warned about desertification.
Spain knows it has a problem. In a time of right-wing opposition to Europe's environment-protecting Green Deal regulations — 'greenlash,' it has been called — the progressive government of Spain has embraced an ecological transition.
Advertisement
'The main risk humankind faces today, undoubtedly, is climate change,' said Sira Rego, a minister in the government led by Pedro Sánchez. She called responding to those changes the country's 'priority in terms of security.'
The government, proud of its well-performing economy, is working to attract hundreds of billions of euros in investments for sustainable energy to create hundreds of thousands of new green jobs. It seeks to invest in temperature prediction systems to foresee heat waves, and to train health care workers who will be forced to treat more heat-related illnesses. It is trying to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
At more local levels, cities including Barcelona are also trying to mitigate the damage wrought by a changing climate.
Laia Bonet, the city's first deputy mayor responsible for ecology and urban planning, said that Barcelona was 'especially exposed to the effects of climate change,' and that it was working to address the reality of a hotter city with higher sea levels and eroded beaches.
The city's priority, she said, is protecting vulnerable residents with hundreds of climate shelters. But it is also investing 1.8 billion euros (about $2.1 billion) to make buildings greener, expand green spaces, install 200 shade structures, and replace some pavements with dirt to better absorb and repurpose rainwater.
The city is also using sand recovered from construction projects to help preserve its beaches, which are a beloved public space for locals to cool off, as well as a guard against storm surges, and a crucial element in the city's identity as a tourist destination. About 15 percent of Barcelona's economy comes from tourism.
She said climate change had forced the city to think of its over-tourism problem differently, to come up with measures that addressed both. 'These are progressive policies that cities can implement as an antidote,' she said.
Advertisement
Instead of changing their behavior, many Southern Europeans suffering during the sweltering heat waves have resorted to hatching escape plans. In Barcelona, three older Spanish women sitting in the shade across from the city's cathedral fantasized about cloudy Galicia in the north. And Romans with healthy travel budgets have started looking longingly at damp, chilly, often overlooked nations.
'It could happen that if it gets too hot, people could come to Belgium,' said Ann Verdonck, 45, from near Antwerp, who was on vacation with her family in Barcelona, where she said last month's temperatures were untenable. 'And then we will have too many people.'
But Pardo Rivacoba, the activist, said extreme heat would not get rid of over-tourism because the tourism industry is so cynical. If the summers became too hot, he feared, the industry would work to move school vacations to months when families could travel.
'The tourism industry,' he said, is 'ready to literally burn every piece of the calendar.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Venezuelan Little League team denied entry into US amid Trump travel ban
Venezuelan Little League team denied entry into US amid Trump travel ban

Politico

timean hour ago

  • Politico

Venezuelan Little League team denied entry into US amid Trump travel ban

The tournament, which starts Saturday, features 13- to 16-year-old baseball players from the U.S. and around the world competing in Easley, South Carolina. Little League International called the news 'extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes' in a statement to POLITICO. A White House spokesperson directed a request for comment to the State Department. Representatives for the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Little League International said the Santa Maria de Aguayo Little League team from Victoria, Mexico, who finished in second place in the Latin America qualifiers behind the Venezuelan team, will replace them. Kendry Gutiérrez, president of Cacique Mara Little League, said in an interview posted on the team's social media account that the team had traveled to Bogota, Colombia, two weeks in advance of the tournament to try and secure visas. 'This is a sad and regrettable situation,' he said in Spanish during the interview, filmed with the team's players seated behind him. 'They want to have the opportunity to go play.' Trump signed an executive order earlier this year banning all travel from 12 countries and restricting travel from seven others, including Venezuela. The order carved out an exception for athletes traveling to the U.S. for major sports competitions determined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The State Department's processing of foreign athletes seeking entry into the U.S. will be under heightened scrutiny in the coming years, as the U.S. prepares to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028. The Venezuelan Little League team isn't the first sports team to be denied entry into the country. The Cuban women's national volleyball team was unable to enter the country for a tournament in Puerto Rico earlier this month. Cuba is also on the list of countries with restricted travel to the U.S.

How Gentrification Continues to Change Mexico City—and What Comes Next
How Gentrification Continues to Change Mexico City—and What Comes Next

Condé Nast Traveler

time4 hours ago

  • Condé Nast Traveler

How Gentrification Continues to Change Mexico City—and What Comes Next

Mexico City has always been a complex destination. As the son of Mexican immigrants from Veracruz, I don't remember my first trip to the Mexican capital—a place where some of my closest friends and family members have been born, raised, and in some cases, buried. But as a child, I remember it being a non-destination with a gritty exterior; a smoggy behemoth of urban sprawl that other Mexicans would joke about never wanting to visit. Still, the oldest and largest metropolis in North America—and a primary gateway into Latin America for travelers worldwide—has always emitted a type of magic, with live folk bands roaming Plaza Garibaldi; the world largest collection of Mesoamerican relics in the heart of Parque Chapultepec; and lard-rubbed Gaonera tacos slung from crammed streetside stalls. There's an unvarnished vibrancy of Mexican life, beside a swirling mix of global influences and ideas that have historically been embraced. Everything from the food to art of this metropolis has the fingerprint of immigrant communities who have arrived from overseas and within the country. But in recent years, the influx of Americans and Europeans specifically has reached a crescendo. Now, it seems the city has become too beloved for its own good. In early July, hundreds of Mexican nationals took to Mexico City's streets to protest the current realities of a city that now seems to embrace foreigners at the cost of locals' needs. The protests were concentrated in the upscale neighborhoods of Roma and Condesa, where the biggest cluster of international visitors and residents have flocked in record numbers since the pandemic, drawn by internationally acclaimed restaurants and bars, designer boutiques, and Instagram-friendly façades—and where the cost of living has risen exorbitantly in response. A number of interconnected factors can be blamed (Airbnb, digital nomads themselves, government policy), but demonstrators are clear that their way of living has been altered by this massive influx of people, and something has got to give. In the past five years alone, the average rent costs around Cuauhtémoc, a desirable municipality that encompasses the trendiest zip codes, have swelled by 30%. During that same window, the amount of US citizens who initiated or renewed their residency visas in Mexico City increased by nearly 70%. Yet, as rent and property values have skyrocketed, wages have remained relatively stagnant and in some cases decreased for the Mexican workforce. Some estimates on the average American salary place it at between double and triple the average Mexico City salary. In neighborhoods like Condesa, rents in many apartment buildings are now reflective of what foreigners with higher salaries can afford, rather than what locals are able to pay in pesos. The effects on everyday Chilangos are devastating as the market adjusts to US dollars and euros, and businesses overly cater to the tourists who earn in those currencies. Many blame the government primarily for overreaching in its attempt to transform the city into a global hub. In 2016, El Distrito Federal de México (DF), as it was formerly known, was legislatively renamed as Ciudad de México (CDMX) to more closely resemble its English-sounding name, Mexico City. It signaled the early stages of a judicial overhaul to clean up the city's image. The corporate-coded rebranding came packaged with a glossy paint job, in which the city's taxis and public letterings were cast in bright pink as an effort to soften the city's appearance for incoming visitors. (The color was selected based on study groups and the perception of safety). The Condesa neighborhood in Mexico City has been one of those most impacted by gentrification in recent years, with the cost of living surpassing what some longtime residents can pay. erlucho/Getty As locals are pushed from central neighborhoods to the outskirts of the city, "the social fabric of the place starts to deteriorate over time' says resident Paul Lara. Linka A Odom/Getty In a capital known for its gastronomic wonders, restaurants have been a focal point. The city's hardest-to-get tables are often dominated by foreigners, some of whom make restaurant reservations at destination-worthy spots before even booking their flights there. It raises an even bigger question: Who are these restaurants for? At times, the city's beloved restaurants have served as harbingers of oncoming gentrification. In others, they've remained as symbols of an enduring past.

Gerard Piqué Shares Romantic Photos With His Girlfriend, Clara Chía Marti, in Arizona
Gerard Piqué Shares Romantic Photos With His Girlfriend, Clara Chía Marti, in Arizona

Elle

time5 hours ago

  • Elle

Gerard Piqué Shares Romantic Photos With His Girlfriend, Clara Chía Marti, in Arizona

THE RUNDOWN Gerard Piqué confirmed his relationship with Clara Chía Marti in January 2023, just seven months after he and Shakira publicly ended their 11-year relationship. The former FC Barcelona soccer player shared a selfie with Marti on Instagram at the time, marking their first post together after months of dating rumors. Prior to that, the pair had already been seen together in public, beginning in August 2022. Since going public, the couple has largely kept details of their relationship under wraps. Most recently, Piqué shared photos from a trip to Arizona, suggesting they're still together despite past speculation of a split. Little is publicly known about Marti outside her relationship with Piqué. She is originally from Barcelona and was a public relations student in 2022, according to multiple outlets, including Marca and The Sun, but she has not given any interviews or made public statements herself. Below, everything to know about Marti and her relationship with Piqué. Three months after Piqué and Shakira confirmed their separation, he was photographed with Marti at the Summerfest Cerdanya music festival in Catalonia. A few days later, they appeared together again at a wedding in Costa Brava, where they were seen holding hands. As of August 2022, Marti was reportedly employed in the public relations department of Kosmos, the sports and entertainment production company founded by Piqué. According to The Sun, sources said at the time, 'She is a student who also works for him in his office, organizing events.' Despite her proximity to Piqué, Marti has largely avoided the spotlight. Her Instagram account is private with a limited number of followers, including Piqué himself. Over the past three years, Marti and Piqué have taken several trips across Europe and beyond. They've been photographed in Monaco, Prague, Morocco, and, most recently, Arizona. According to Hola!, they visited Antelope Canyon in July 2025, and Piqué shared photos from the trip. One showed the couple kissing in front of the desert landscape. Piqué captioned the post simply, '🧡.' In a February 2025 appearance on Spanish TV show La Revuelta, Piqué spoke about how his life has been transformed since beginning his relationship with Marti. 'I've changed styles, as you mentioned before,' he said. 'My style is different now; I'm doing better in both areas. We're always evolving.' He added, 'I'm really good—really.' The couple became Instagram official in January 2023, when Piqué shared a selfie of the two without a caption. A second photo followed in May of that year. Since then, Marti has appeared occasionally in his feed, including during their trip to Abu Dhabi in October 2024 and to Arizona in July 2025. Piqué is currently 38 years old, and Marti is 26. In April 2024, the couple celebrated her 25th birthday with a trip to Madrid for the King's League final per Hola!. They were photographed together at the airport.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store