I’m writing this from Switzerland, where stepping outside feels like walking into a wall of heat. The air is heavy, the mountains feel strangely still, and across Europe, people are suffering under temperatures our homes, trains, cities, and bodies were never designed to endure.
And while we search for shade, water, and relief, the glaciers are telling their own story — melting faster than many scientists once predicted, revealing bare rock where ancient ice once flowed..
Europe is in the grip of an unprecedented heatwave — and behind every record-breaking temperature is a human story. A family. A neighbor. A child.
France recorded 44.3°C. Spain lost 212 lives in just four days. The UK broke its all-time June temperature record — twice. Switzerland, Austria, Belgium: records shattered across the continent in the same breath.
These are not just numbers. These are people.
I think of the families grieving across Europe. Of the elderly person sitting alone in a top-floor apartment with no air conditioning, in a city that was never built for this kind of heat. Of the homeless, with nowhere cool to go and no one to check on them. Of the children who don't understand why it's so hard to breathe.
And I think of the people on long-distance trains across Europe right now — hours in carriages with no air conditioning, windows that barely open, pressed together in heat that climbs past 40°C. No escape. No relief.
Most European homes, trains, and hospitals weren't designed for the Sahara. And yet, here we are.
The Heat Dome — and What It Means for Our Glaciers
@Photo 2009 hike to Morteratsch glacier with my two children, Ariana and Zachary
What we're experiencing isn't just a heatwave — it's a heat dome. A massive area of high pressure that traps hot air beneath it like a lid on a pot, preventing it from rising and cooling. The air compresses, heats further, and the cycle intensifies. Rain can't break through. Cool fronts are blocked. The land — and everything on it — bakes.
When I stood on the Morteratsch glacier with my children in 2009, I never imagined that just 17 years later the ice would have retreated by roughly half a kilometre. What once felt timeless is now a visible reminder that climate change is no longer a distant concept — it's something we can literally walk through.
We had arrived from New York City three years earlier, in 2006, beginning our new life in Switzerland. That hike — 3.5 hours each way, kids aged 4.5 and 6 — felt surreal, magical, breathtaking. The glacier was already retreating then. But today, the difference is staggering. Hundreds of meters of ice — gone. Bare rock and moraine where a river of ancient ice once flowed.
Throwback Treasure photos: Zalina with her two children during a 3.5-hour hike each way to the Morteratsch Glacier, Switzerland, in 2009. A cherished family adventure—and a powerful reminder of how dramatically the glacier has receded over the years.
Under a heat dome, glaciers like Morteratsch don't just melt — they hemorrhage. The sustained, unrelenting heat accelerates loss that would normally take decades into a matter of summers. Scientists estimate Switzerland could lose two-thirds of its glacier volume by 2100 if current trends continue.
This is not abstract. This is the landscape my children are growing up in — changing before their eyes, and before all of ours.
If you are in Europe right now, please take care of yourself — and each other.
The simplest things matter most right now:
- Stay indoors during peak hours (typically 11am–4pm) — even if it feels manageable outside, heat accumulates fast.
- Drink water before you feel thirsty. Thirst is already a sign of dehydration. Keep a bottle with you always.
- Cool your pulse points — wrists, neck, temples — with cold water. It works faster than you think.
- Close blinds and curtains during the day to keep rooms cooler.
- Check on your neighbors. Knock on a door. Send a message. The elderly, young children, the homeless, and anyone living alone are most vulnerable.
- If you're traveling by train, carry more water than you think you need. Move to cooler carriages if possible. Don't hesitate to ask for help.
Heat is silent. It doesn't look like a disaster from the outside. But it is one.
A note from us
We are a luxury Swiss brand rooted in nature, in ageing well, and in the belief that how we care for ourselves and each other matters deeply.
Right now, the most important thing isn't skincare. It's survival, safety, and community.
Switzerland's glaciers are retreating. Our summers are changing. This is not a distant crisis — it is here, it is now, and it is asking something of all of us.
So please — stay cool, stay hydrated, and look out for the people around you.
Our hearts go out to every family that has lost someone this week. To every person suffering tonight across this continent.
You are not alone.
Keep calm and hydrated-
With love 🤍
— Zalina & the Zalina Swiss Organic Team