by Jay Joseph ’22

For years, Americans have ignored the impending–no, current–effects of climate migration in our nation. Political debates that challenge the existence of climate change and the idea that money can absolve the damage from it desensitize us from its irreversible impacts. Americans continue developing coastlines while rising sea levels and more severe hurricanes threaten the shore. Nevada’s population has doubled over the past 33 years, despite its ebbing water supply from the Colorado River. However, the Californian fires this year have forced Californians and many Americans to confront a chilling truth. As climate change increases the severity and the number of natural disasters in our nation, Americans must consider how global warming will affect their livelihoods when settling down. 

In 2018, weather-related events displaced a staggering 1.2 million people in the United States. A paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences projected this number to increase as the ideal niche for human life (based on temperature and precipitation) moves northward and out of the Southeast under moderate carbon emissions by 2070. The economic burden of living in these areas under such conditions, combined with dwindling food and water resources, will force a mass exodus of climate migrants northwards. Insurance and technology cannot protect Americans for much longer; Americans must be more judicious when deciding where to live in the future.