(The American Prospect) The first generation of climate migrants tries to cling to the places they call home, but bureaucrats, wallets, and an overheating planet have the final say.
After natural disasters that render areas or regions uninhabitable, Bittle argues, many people will seek out deeply resourced cities that can recover faster than rural areas. The long-term effects of climate change also prompt him to provide some regional speculations. Cincinnati and Buffalo could become more attractive for climate migrants outrunning disaster. Buffalo (this season’s brutal snowstorms notwithstanding) boosters have been selling the city as a climate refuge. While retirees make decisions on a shorter timeline more inclined to warmth, younger people may well steel themselves for the climate crises ahead, and northern tiers of the U.S. are more likely to house them. Here, Bittle rightly raises the ugly specter of climate gentrification.
Despite what census data reveals about population flows to Texas, Florida, and Arizona, for instance, the South and Southwest will actually disgorge people and industries in the coming decades due to increasing temperatures and water scarcity. As long the megadrought continues, this calamity almost guarantees a shift in migration patterns for a popular city like Phoenix. And the Southeast also has its own unique water scarcity issues.
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