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.
A family in Barataria, Louisiana, returns to their home after it flooded during Hurricane Ida in August 2021.
Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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.