Americans Flee Endangered Homes, Some Can’t
The media coverage of people leaving their homes or facing huge homeowner insurance bills is rising. Three years ago, one scientist said Michigan was the safest place to live in 2050 because of its water availability and temperate climate.
Climate Change –A Major Solution Fails
According to Pro Publica, the pace at which people are relocating to parts of America to find more climate-friendly areas is increasing. In an article titled The Flooding Will Come “No Matter What,” the authors wrote, “As the U.S. gets hotter, its coastal waters rise higher, its wildfires burn larger and its droughts last longer, the notion that humankind can triumph over nature is fading, and with it, slowly, goes the belief that self-determination and personal preference can be the driving factors in choosing where to live.”
$25 Trillion Problem
A story published by The Economist pointed out that home values worldwide could drop by $25 trillion. “The severe weather brought about by greenhouse-gas emissions is shaking the foundations of the world’s most important asset class.”
The reports miss that hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people have no residential property of value and cannot relocate due to financial issues, infrastructure challenges, or the fact that there is nowhere to go. Very few of these people, based on a global scale, live in America or Europe. Most live in parts of Africa that are plagued by heat and drought, and India, which is beset by heat and massive ocean-based storms.
