The Potential and Pitfalls of Climate Migration

Parts of the country that are protected from many of the worst climate disasters and extreme weather could see a major influx of population in the next few years, writes Abrahm Lustgarten in The Atlantic, citing an interview with Beth Gibbons of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP).

Tens of millions of Americans may move in response to these changes, fleeing coasts and the countryside for larger cities and more temperate climates. In turn, the extent to which our planet’s crisis can present an economic opportunity, or even reimagining, will largely depend on where people wind up, and the ways in which they are welcomed or scorned.

Gibbons says states like Michigan, where towns have underutilized infrastructure and relatively cheap housing, should encourage Californians and others displaced by wildfire risk to move there. “The Great Lakes region should market itself as a climate refuge, she thinks, and then build an economy that makes use of its attributes: the value of its water, its land, its relative survivability.”

However, climate migration can also lead to gentrification and tensions between old and new residents; “not so far down the line, forced migration could instead yield fears of newcomers as economic burdens.”