This roundup of The Conversation’s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine.
I’m thinking of painting my roof white. It’s not about making it look prettier, it’s because my bedroom is right underneath a flat roof and every summer it gets unbelievably hot. Last summer I ended up hugging a hot water bottle filled with cold water in bed, and even that was not enough to help me nod off.
As those who live in Mediterranean countries know, painting your home white helps keep it cooler by reflecting back the heat. A dig in our archives found a fascinating article by Rosa Schiano-Phan, reader in architecture and environment design at the University of Westminster, about why this works – as generations of people who live in stark-white villages in Spain and Greece will testify.
It might be worth giving it a go to get some cooler summer nights, and a tin or two of white paint is not a high price to pay.
The past few days of hot weather have been concentrating my mind on any simple (and cheap) steps I might take in my home to help keep cool. Another great find from 2025 has suggestions. Mehri Khosravi, an energy researcher at the University of East London, digs into ways to keep people cooler and avoid big energy bills. She suggests looking at shutters and shades as a cheaper alternative to air conditioning units, noting:
“In Rome … window shutters are so common you barely notice them, yet they dramatically reduce the need for mechanical cooling.”
Wildfire risks
Countries that have traditionally not sweltered in the summer are starting to understand what it feels like. Already in 2026, wildfire warnings have been issued in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. These nations are traditionally associated with soggy summers rather than sweltering ones, but all three – as Will Hayes, postdoctoral research associate in fire governance at Royal Holloway, University of London, notes – have already seen significant wildfires break out in 2026.
One reason for this is the changing patterns of those who tend farmland. Agricultural workers are getting fewer and older, which means far less clearing of vegetation is taking place. As in Italy, this has contributed to the growing risk of wildfires. While less grazing and natural regeneration of the landscape can mean more biodiversity, heavier vegetation can also be more flammable. As Hayes writes:
“These same changes may also increase wildfire risk where vegetation becomes dense, continuous and unmanaged. The challenge is therefore not choosing between farming or conservation, but finding ways to support landscapes that can sustain biodiversity, rural livelihoods and wildfire resilience together.”
As well as the heat, The Conversation’s environment desk has been very focused on bees recently, as World Bee Day came and went – and heat was a factor there as well.
Bees are being hit by heatwaves in a surprising way. In a University of Hull lab, a study recreated three days of heatwaves from July 2022. The team tracked how red mason bees in the study reacted, along with a control group that wasn’t subjected to these high temperatures. James Gilbert and colleagues initially thought all the bees were fine, and there was nothing to see there. But nine months later, it became clear that there was something significant to consider.
In the group of bees subjected to heatwave temperatures, sperm activity had dropped by half compared with the control group, and sperm counts by one third. In females, there was a 15% reduction in both the size and number of developing eggs.
The heatwave had wrecked their fertility. While this in itself was shocking for the trial bees, the long-term implications for bees more generally – and the humans that rely on their pollination – is immense. Until now, research on heatwaves and their impact on bees had just focused on fatalities. This new study shows that some bees will not even be born because of rising temperatures.
Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH/Shutterstock
Meanwhile, in the Pennine hills in the north of England, there’s an unusual project taking place that is also about reacting to the changing climate. Hundreds of holes have been dug across the area, creating something of a moonscape effect.
This is part of a huge plan to return this area back to its boggy past. Industrial expansion in this region in the 19th century left the wetlands stripped of their moisture, as coal smoke from nearby mills left heavy metals behind that degraded and dried out the soil. But in the past few years, scientists have started to revive its sogginess, using the impressive qualities of Sphagnum moss – a sort of super moss which can hold up to 20 times its body weight in water. The moist, peaty wetlands will help protect the area from wildfires, as well as absorbing the CO₂ being created by industrial fossil-fuel use, which is warming the atmosphere.
Working in hot temperatures
Life generally doesn’t stop in heatwaves. Many people are required to continue with their jobs in high temperatures, without any respite or option to find a cooler space. Research across seven countries shows that governments need to do more to help people cope in extreme temperatures. Recommendations include creating maximum workplace temperatures, and creating more cool places where people can escape to during heatwaves, such as public buildings.
It seems almost impossible to ignore the relationship between extreme heat and our lives right now. But at least some academics are using innovation sparked by their scientific research to recognise – and help tackle – some of the problems these heatwaves are causing. And no doubt there will be more.
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