Podcast Summary: "Covering Climate Change in the City of Love"

Consider This from NPR (August 16, 2025)

Host: Scott Detrow
Guest: Eleanor Beardsley, NPR Paris Correspondent
Featured Voices: Ziad Tuat (heat drill organizer), Etan Levy (Roofscapes)

Overview

In this episode, "Covering climate change in the city of love," NPR explores how Paris—a city renowned for its romance and charm—is facing the harsh realities of climate change, particularly extreme heat waves. Through a reporter’s notebook conversation with longtime Paris correspondent Eleanor Beardsley, the episode delves into why Paris is becoming increasingly vulnerable to deadly heat events, how the city is adapting, and what lessons other urban areas might take from its experience.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Heat Waves and Paris’ Unique Vulnerabilities

• Paris’ Built Environment and Increased Risk:
  • Scott Detrow sets the scene with a story of Paris students holding a heatwave drill in an abandoned railway tunnel—demonstrating new adaptations to rising temperatures. (00:00–01:07)
  • Paris is one of Europe's densest cities, with limited greenery and iconic but problematic architecture. Many Haussmann-era buildings, especially those with "romantic" zinc mansard roofs, become lethal heat traps in summer:

    "If you were to live in one of those attic apartments...you have a four times the chance of dying than somebody who lives on a lower floor in a heat wave. Because those zinc rooftops can heat up to 70 and 80 degrees centigrade." —Eleanor Beardsley [03:19]

  • The problem recasts Paris’ famed rooftops as a deadly liability in this changing climate.

2. The Human Cost and History of Heat Waves

• Escalating Summer Crisis:
  • Eleanor recalls the 2003 European heatwave that killed about 15,000 people in France, mostly elderly in Parisian apartments—a national trauma (04:18).
  • “People used to refer to that summer of 2003, but now we've actually had many summers of 2003. Not as deadly, but every year now it seems we're having heat waves...” —Eleanor Beardsley [04:31]
  • Heat waves are becoming earlier and more frequent.

3. Reporting on Climate Change

• Challenges of Coverage:
  • Discusses the nuances of attributing any single event to climate change, but notes that the frequency and trend are undeniable:

    "There's just been so many more heat waves in the last 20 years than there were in this previous century." —Eleanor Beardsley [05:41]

  • In France and much of Europe, climate change is broadly accepted as fact, rather than a debated political issue.

4. Urban Adaptation and Innovations in Paris

• City-Level Solutions:
  • Paris is rethinking its urban environment:
    • Planting Vines and Urban Forests:
      • "There's another thing you do. You get vines. You cover buildings in vines. That cools them down." —Eleanor Beardsley [06:24]
      • Example: A “little forest” planted in front of Hôtel de Ville, transforming a heat-trapping stone plaza [07:12].
    • Reducing Cars and Promoting Bikes:
      • 750 miles of protected bike lanes across the city to cut car traffic and improve air quality.
    • Innovative Rooftop Projects:
      • Etan Levy of Roofscapes explains new timber and plant-covered platforms on Paris rooftops to provide shade and cooling:

      "First of all, we’re trying to create a shading effect...with this timber platform, we're very much trying to add more greenery." —Etan Levy [08:44]

      • Top-floor apartments, once scenic and desirable, now pose serious heat risks. The platforms are part garden, part social space. Soil and plants cool buildings significantly, since wood doesn’t conduct heat the way zinc does.

5. Living with a New Rhythm

• Adapting Daily Life and Tourism:
  • Despite the challenges, Paris retains its allure for visitors, though summer visitors must adapt:

    "Paris lives at night when it’s really hot...There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people out walking, jogging, biking, having wine, sitting there. It was midnight. It felt like 6pm and it was midnight." —Eleanor Beardsley [09:34]

  • Advice: Know where parks and cool spots are, and shift routines to avoid the heat.

Notable Quotes

• On the shift in Parisian summers:

  "People used to refer to that summer of 2003, but now we've actually had many summers of 2003."
  —Eleanor Beardsley [04:31]

• On the risks of Paris’s iconic rooftops:

  "If you were to live in one of those attic apartments...you have a four times the chance of dying than somebody who lives on a lower floor in a heat wave."
  —Eleanor Beardsley [03:19]

• On adapting the Paris lifestyle:

  "Paris lives at night when it’s really hot...the rhythm of the day completely changes."
  —Eleanor Beardsley [09:34]

• On rooftop innovation:

  “First of all, we’re trying to create a shading effect...And second of all, with this timber platform, we’re very much trying to add more greenery.”
  —Etan Levy [08:44]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00–01:07] — Heatwave drill in Paris railway tunnel: Adaptation in real time
• [02:20–03:48] — Paris’ vulnerabilities: Architecture, lack of trees, density
• [04:18–05:07] — History and deadly effects of heat waves in France
• [05:36–06:08] — Reporting the nuance of climate change
• [06:08–08:15] — How Paris is trying to adapt: trees, vines, bike lanes, rooftop gardens
• [08:15–09:08] — Rooftop solutions and technology: Roofscapes interview
• [09:34–10:17] — Living with extreme heat; advice for residents and tourists

Memorable Moments

• The image of a romantic Haussmann rooftop now doubling as a dangerous heat trap.
• The transformation of public spaces like Hôtel de Ville with mini urban forests.
• Daily life in Paris shifting to nighttime to cope with sweltering summer heat.

Conclusion

This episode highlights the evolving challenge of urban heat in Paris, marrying the city’s enduring romance with the urgent need for climate adaptation. Through Eleanor Beardsley’s seasoned perspective and innovative voices like Etan Levy’s, listeners see both the city’s risks and its resilience. The message is clear: Paris is still Paris, but surviving—and thriving—requires new rhythms and novel solutions in a warming world.