"Tracking the Erratic Path of US Climate Migrants"

"In The Great Displacement, Jake Bittle follows families displaced by flooding, drought and other disasters as the “next American migration” begins in earnest."

"The effects of climate change are expected to trigger a mass reshuffling of the US population in coming decades. By 2100, sea level rise alone is set to displace some 13 million coastal residents. Millions more will relocate in the aftermath of wildfires, hurricanes, and extreme weather as dangerous temperatures render parts of North America increasingly unbearable.

In fact, America’s climate migration has already begun — though the movement is not as direct and linear as the term might suggest. And some of it is in the wrong direction.

“When people think of migration, they think of somebody moving over a very long distance, voluntarily, from point A to point B — and that it happens basically one time, with an end goal in sight,” says Jake Bittle, a climate reporter for Grist and author of the new book The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. But what actually happens is much more “unpredictable and chaotic,” he says — a scramble of flight and return as households try to rebuild their lives in the wake of disasters."

Linda Poon reports for Bloomberg CityLab March 7, 2023.

 

Source: Bloomberg CityLab, 03/08/2023