“They allied themselves with their worst enemy”: how 2,400 years ago the Persians manufactured ice in the middle of the desert
Those engineers did not know the graphs from the Copernicus program that today tell us that Europe is warming at twice the speed it did a hundred years ago. But they had mud, shade, water, patience and a fierce observation of the sky.
In a twist of fate, two millennia ago, the Persians forged an unlikely alliance with their greatest enemy to manufacture ice amidst the scorching desert. The heat has become unbearable, with temperatures soaring to unprecedented levels, reminiscent of a series of unrelenting ovens instead of the summer season. This season, the Bilbao airport registered a record-breaking 42.7 degrees Celsius on June 24th, a temperature that has never been recorded in June or July before.
In our quest for comfort, we have turned to air conditioning, a device that cools our homes by heating the planet as a whole. In doing so, we have entered into a Faustian bargain, trading our present comfort for an uncertain future, feeling modern and safe, but also foolish.
Written by urgent.news from El Pais's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
