How Economic Damage Will Drive Climate Migration
A new book charts the forces that will shape massive US population shifts in the coming decades.
Buckeye, Arizona, one of the fastest-growing places in the US, is served by the Central Arizona Project canal, which transports water to desert communities hundreds of miles away.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images
For decades beginning in the 1920s, farmers in Crowley County, Colorado, prospered off the abundance of water from the Colorado River. It fueled a lucrative agricultural industry, and as nearby cities grew and demand for water surged, farmers sold shares of their water rights to developers for as much as $10,000 each.
Then came a long period of drought, and farmers who had bet on natural rainfall to replenish their water supply watched as thousands of acres of once-fertile land dried up. Gradually, people began moving away and local businesses shut down, leaving the county to spiral into decline.