When I was a boy living near Chicago, a fierce tornado ripped through my suburban neighborhood. As extreme winds whipped outside, we hunkered down in our basement to say safe. We emerged at daylight to witness a graveyard of fallen oak trees, unforgettable expressions of nature’s power.
But as dramatic, alarming and frankly fascinating as the tornado’s force was, we never wondered if the day would come that we had to leave our home. Back then, it was normal to see extreme weather events as isolated, not as symptoms of a much larger and interconnected new environmental reality.
Hawaii has always offered a picture of paradise, which is one reason why the devastating images of hurricane-swept wildfires on Maui are particularly disturbing for outside observers. It seems almost inconceivable that this gorgeous rain forest could go up in smoke and cause at least 80 deaths. The aftermath of the fires in Lahaina look post-apocalyptic, making it nearly impossible to imagine the popular tourist destination it was just days ago.
From the fires in Hawaii to the unrelenting extreme heat in Arizona to the massive flooding in Norway—together presenting a parade of life-endangering emergencies—it’s hard for me to miss that our world is getting more inhospitable. I often remind worried students and peers that even as some areas become increasingly uninhabitable, there will be other habitable places to go. Of course, the issue is whether you have the resources to move and rebuild your life.
This is not an easy topic, but I also think it shouldn’t be ignored. These are serious issues that require calm and reasonable responses. We can anticipate the future and ask ourselves what choices we could and should make.
How much longer will we tolerate governments, particularly our own, that continue to subsidize fossil fuel industries—that’s a trillion dollars in subsidies globally—that significantly contribute to the rise in carbon emissions? How far should our tax dollars go to fund rebuilding unsustainable communities as the number and intensity of climate-related natural disasters increase? (Damages in 2022 exceeded $165 billion and more than $1 trillion for the last seven years.) How can we pare down our lives to limit the overconsumption of resources?
With all this in mind, I wonder: Is extreme weather influencing your future plans? Are these extreme events making you question how long you can stay in the place you now call home? Has the idea of living near a beach, by a river or in a hot locale become increasingly unrealistic for you? Or do you remain confident that you can always find a way to be where you want to be, come hell or high water?
As always, I look forward to reading your observations and insights—and for this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your answers.
Well I can think of one thing that could help tamp down ongoing environmental issues. WORK FROM HOME. During the lockdown and wfh period in 2020-2021-ish, the air was cleaner. Think of the savings on gas for a vehicle, the sheer number of vehicles, and the west and tear on it. Then the human energy related to getting ready for, commuting to and from an office. Next, consider how mush waste office buildings produce - relative to typically very wasteful and inept HVAC, and the use of our resources. Lastly, one may not think this is an issue, while many will - but the savings on extra ‘work attire’ clothing! Clothing in of itself is a horrible environmental issue.
Not sure it affects my future plans too much, except that it makes me very sad. I teach teens and I see that they have hugh anxiety about what the world will look like when they are my age. We have been talking about climate change/global warming since I was in school in the late 80s. I find it difficult to be optimistic for my students
The question is: where would one move TO? It truly is a small blue dot in the universe, and at this point, there are no guarantees that anyplace will be immune to unpredictable and devastating events. But yes, the extreme heat and drought even at 7,000 ft. In N. NM this summer was positively oppressive…and the worst part is: no monsoon to give us that beautiful balance and nourish the lands. Gardens are perishing, even xeric native perennial ones. 😔 it almost feels like my own days in a place close to paradise until now….are ending.
Americans are always accused of refusing to pay attention until the fire is burning down the door... well, we are there with climate warming/heating. I betting 50% of us will keep reading the subversive media of FOX and its spawn... keep hanging by their feet, seeing the world up-side-down.... keep denying until they drown, burn up, starve or get shot by a climate refugee who needs their space. Grim morning, sorry.
There are already people trying to move to more hospitable places to live - for example some farmers in Guatemala whose land has become too dry to farm. People can only move to other places if other people are welcoming, which is often not so.
I am from Canada and many people I know are selling their places in Arizona and California and Florida.
And opting to stay in Canada in places, like Victoria or Vancouver, which have great weather with none of the nasty politics, horrendous, gun violence, and, of course, extreme temperatures!
I would say if Americans don’t know this yet, they’re simply a frog in a warming pot. At some point when the economies start reflecting the reality of your politics , guns and extreme weather.... they will clue in that it’s all self inflicted.
Good luck to our American friends as they grapple with some serious issues.
But until then you can find more and more of us staying right here in Canada, where sadly climate change, virtually, no handguns and our healthcare system is making a nicer just to stay home.
I believe the overwhelming majority of us know that we need immediate climate action to forestall unfixable issues. What alarms me the most is Corporate Media's refusal to acknowledge it. When 97/100 scientists agree-they still give each side 50-50 coverage. How irresponsible & short-sided can they be. Shame on them all. As for our family, we all live in Blue states & we travel with respect
My comment is about where I had planned to move to in my retirement. I had been planning a move to somewhere like La Paz in Baja California. However, given that everywhere there is so hot, I’ve decided that staying right here in foggy and cooler summer temps San Francisco is where I should spend the rest of my days. This presents another problem, I won’t be able to afford to retire living here. So, retirement in 2025 is now off the table.
Oh, I know “the big one” is due here in Northern California and by that I mean an earthquake. So, it just goes to show one that nowhere is safe from the power and strength of this fantastic planet upon which we humans are surely a pestilence.
I’m no stranger to natural catastrophes. When a 14 year old I experienced the Great Alaska Earthquake, almost 5 minutes at 9.2. But this is no natural catastrophe, it is a man-made one. And hell hath no fury than Gaia scorned.
I live in the Chicago suburbs. We’ve had some powerful storms this summer, but I love living here. When I was a travel nurse, I spent a year in California, 2 years in Tucson, 2 years in Memphis. The heat in Tucson in summer was literally like walking into an oven. I loved The Bay Area but again, so many fires in NoCal. Memphis was humid like a sauna. I don’t plan on flying anywhere anytime soon, always road trips for me. I’ve read about all the entertainers who have been jetting around this summer, and as I understand it’s their job, I wonder about their carbon footprint. I don’t buy anything unnecessary. I still wear shirts, jeans, coats, and shoes that are 20 years old. I think if we collectively diminished our conspicuous consumption, it would help the planet. Nobody needs more stuff.
I definitely plan my trips in advance based on what the weather may be. When I first moved to Idaho, I lived in Ketchum Sun Valley area. I never flew home for the holidays because of snowstorms. Now, it seems as if all the airlines have delays due to weather in part of the country. Road trips for me!
If I could, I would move to a blue state only to save my sanity.
When lawmakers forbid the use of terms like climate change, global warming and attach prison sentences to the use of these terms you know we are all going to perish
Since the October 2017 fire storm here in Sonoma County we no longer plan vacations during peak fire season.
Several years ago our neighbor moved to Maui to get away from the frequent wild fires here. Oh, the irony! Fortunately they are not in or near Lahaina.
I live in Florida. When I open the front door, it feels like a wet washcloth hits my face. It is too hot to take a walk. Flower plants need watered twice a day. To run the AC constantly would break the bank, at least mine, so a lot of times, just the fans. Am insulated somewhat between 2 townhouses. I cannot move, my daughters' lives are here, workwise, , and I need to be near them when I need help. Daughters better than daughters in law, son living in NJ. But NJ has been having a time of it, too. Would love to live back in central PA, cooler weather, places of memories, but all I knew, relatives, parents,, even cousins, dead. I have outlasted them all.
I read that President Biden building whatever to draw carbon out of the air. GOP will not want to give him the $$. OK for trump to up the debt, but not Biden. Then we have people like Manchin who thrive on coal money, as does China. We have those who would mine in our national lands. trump makes a snowball in the winter and so poo poos climate change. An article says if we go up 2 more degrees Celcius,, 70% of sea level will rise causing floods, salty water, terrible heat waves , all by possibly mid century.
The 21st century was supposed to be better, more humane and peaceful than the 20th. Nope ! No world war.........yet, but who knows with the Ukranian calamity. Putin nuttier than trump.Xi worse than Putin, just in more subtle ways.
So, no where to go, no individual way to change things.. 40% of sheep think they are just sweating because it is summer. What to do??????
Just cancelled an October trip to Kaanapali, where my family has had condos since the 1970s, and my brother lives. First it was Paradise, California, now just paradise. FU climate change (checks notes) I mean global burning.
Teslas, organic food, decolonizing and all the BS we are consumed with as solutions make me cringe. We do not have the moral courage to transition appropriately. A low carbon future needs to be built from the ground up - meaning our policies must affect and improve the livelihoods of the absolute poorest ok the planet first. To deny the developing world prosperity is evil. Given how we treated the third world during Covid, I have little hope for anything groundbreaking on climate.
I live in southeastern AZ which is wine country. The extreme heat this summer is affecting wine grapes, which need our normally cooler summer temps in the mid 80s (we are at 5,000 ft) to flourish. This summer we saw more days at 100 degrees than I ever remember. I am currently building a cut flower farm and I wonder what my future in that industry will look like. Add in fears of losing groundwater.
I visited Lahaina (Maui) for the first time last October. I’m heartbroken that the entire town is gone. I keep thinking that they would have been better off taking a direct hit by that hurricane. Yes, damage would have happened but they are more prepared for storms and it would have brought much needed rain. When I was there last fall, I noticed how dry it was and wondered if that was normal.
I live 3 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and after narrowly escaping hurricane Ian last fall, I am reconsidering where I live. (Don’t even get me started with DeFascist. I lived here before he got elected. 🙄) It’s not sustainable and I’m just waiting on an insurance letter to show up saying rates are increasing. We are already on state insurance even though we are in a non-evac zone. We used to live at the beach but moved to higher ground a few years ago. Before that, I used to live in the PNW and fires now are an every year occurrence. It wasn’t like that in the 90s. I don’t think anywhere is safe, we are already living in the midst of climate change. The question is, can we reverse it or is it too late?
Live in the upper Midwest which seems like one of the safest places on earth right now. Planning on doing solar and geothermal so getting off the grid entirely.
I don’t mean to downplay the effects of climate change, but isn’t this also the year of El Nino? I have heard very little about this phenomenon in the press. Personally, I have never lived through a disaster and hope I never will. That being said: I live in the Netherlands and our home is 6 feet below sea level. The dikes protect us. But in February 1953 due to a severe storm in the North Sea and exceptionally high tides, the dikes broke and 1853 people drowned. That disaster lead to the Delta Plan to prevent anything similar happening again. I hope our engineers got it right! The past few summers however have brought much higher temperatures and less rain than we usually get.
As the earth becomes more populated, just passed 8 Billion, we have to be smarter about our resources for starters. In addition, building at tops of mountains or bottoms of valleys is quickly becoming a thing of the past. How we build it is also critical, but it all costs money. It won’t be the survival of the fittest, but the survival of the wealthiest, nations and individuals.
For my retirement this year, I deliberately relocated to somewhere I felt safer from upcoming extreme weather. The next 20 years or so may become hellish. I pity future generations.
Yes, emphatically. Had I known that I would not be able to move to Canada after I retired, I would have made sure to have gone years ago. Many people have things that they just can't tolerate: bugs, snakes, cold, snow, overcast and cloudy much of the year. Mine is heat. I plan to just keep going north until it isn't hot anymore for at least the half a year I'm allowed. If I never had to see the sun again, I'd heave a sigh of relief!
I put this in par with the willful disregard of politicians to address gun responsibility. These are our children and grandchildren they’re preparing to effectively murder, at the very least robbing them of a future traumatized by imminent catastrophe. Why we must participate in politics if only at the voting level, more if possible.
I am from Chicago too but retired to Spain. The last two weeks have been extremely hot and humid, with 95° and 85% or more humidity. We have been hibernating at home with sun shades pulled down and only going out for a a quick dog walk. People who have lived here many years say it’s never been this hot before, especially for so long.
I don’t think we will move but we are worried. I wonder if our children should even have children because Earth’s future looks so grim. I pray that all governments come to their senses soon and do everything possible to reduce CO2 emissions and help heal our planet before it’s too late.
I would love to retire near the ocean. Preferably somewhere with kind of sandy beaches I lived as a kid. My best friend wants me to join her in retiring to the Mediterranean. I’m not sure either is feasible--the Mediterranean will be too hot for me to tolerate and lots of the beaches I loved as a kid will be gone with rising sea levels.
Even if living in those spots remains tolerable for the rest of my lifetime, I can’t see putting my limited financial resources into living situations with no future in them. It’s throwing money into a hole.
My wife and I moved to Omaha from Austin, where we could no longer tolerate the intense triple digit temperatures. We realize this may be a short-term solution, but we're older and don't need long-term solutions at this point. The planet, however, does need long-term solutions. It's long past time to end our dependence on fossil fuels. If this doesn't happen we're screwed.
We have already situated ourselves in a part of the country that's likely to remain cool enough and generally free of areal disasters (occasionally hurricanes) and that is southern New England on high ground. I say less likely because we currently have various plagues affecting our woodlands right now and forest fires will become more likely in the future as trees succumb and die though we generally get adequate rain here, this year an entire years worth of it in a few months. We've lived in Alaska, the midwest, my husband is from California and we had thought about returning to the west but after experiencing major droughts and with every real estate transaction diving into water rights on the west coast, we opted to go east. This might not be our last move. I feel fortunate to have the resources to make a move if it proves to be necessary.
I grew up in Chicago too and remember that tornado in the 1960s. We hunkered in the basement while it roared, loud as a freight train or jet engine, over us. Devastation everywhere but in patches. We must act decisively to restore our environment’s health!
I've always been fair skinned with a low tolerance for high temperatures and clearly was better suited to the upper latitudes.
I currently live in the American Southeast, where the heat is predictable all summer, but I find as I get older ("I'm not THAT old!") I tolerate the heat even less. I have to consign myself to mowing the lawn in that narrow window at 8:02am, where we're finally outside the "quiet hours" dictated by my neighhborhood covenants, but before it's already in the eighties.
As for grocery shopping and other errands, I've got to do it in the morning before it gets too hot, or even just walking across scorching parking lots and getting into a hot car put me in jeopardy of getting a heat headache and nausea for the rest of the day.
Any outing where I need to go out after midday, and I've had to start bringing an icepack with me, so I can immediately counteract heat retention in my body by putting the ice pack on my head, neck, and extremities as needed.
It's only been in the nineties here most days. I cannot imagine what it's like to live anywhere that's hitting the 100+ temps for days in a row. Miserable. Arguably uninhabitable for much longer.
Like many young folks, I feel paralyzed by the increasing apocalyptic climate catastrophes & continued corruption of cultures, as you point out. When I was a young person, last century, the world was an "oyster", full of limitless places & possibilities & adventures. What is being crushed & stolen is possibility, a quality of freedom. Where can one think of "escaping" to now? Even paradise is going under water or up in smoke. I refuse now to drive anywhere of distance, or take a plane, every petro-emission limited to utter necessity. Plans for the future? How to survive the madness & meltdown seeping in all around the edges... w/o being rounded up by militias or be driven to self-destruction. Making it to next morning's herbal tea.
I'm 87 and long retired. My wife retired about a year ago. For a while, we thought about moving to Oregon to be closer to friends who live there. But it's hotter there than it is here in the Seattle area. We also thought of moving to Bellingham, about as near to Canada as we could go. But lots of others are apparently doing that, so the housing prices are going up fast. We once thought of living near the ocean, but that's not a great option with sea levels rising and stronger storms. So we think we'll stay put, and hope things don't get worse too fast. We worry for our son, though. It's going to be tough for him if we don't slow or reverse these trends.
Extreme weather and observable trends in climate patterns/changes have informed our choices for where we live. We chose and always have chosen houses that are not in a flood plain. We live in what is now a fairly moderate climate in Ohio. From what I can gather, our largest future risk is storms intensifying, but who knows? As I type this, I see we're under a tornado watch.
Water shortages shouldn't be an issue, we hope, because of close proximity to the Great Lakes. We don't foresee forest fires becoming a major threat because we don't have massive forests. So, we're choosing to stay here, gambling I suppose, that it will be less horrible than, say, places where water is scarce or coastal areas where the threat of hurricanes and flooding is growing. But it's just a guess, isn't it? I would have thought Canada was a pretty great place to be during extreme climate change. But the tragic forest fires this year have caused me to rethink that. I still love Canada.
I guess I wouldn't want to gamble on living where the writing seems to be on the wall about extreme climate changes that affect the livability of a place, no matter how long it's been home. It's a very hard thing to recognize that it's time to get out.
I have thought about whether we are living in a place that will remain habitable. I feel like we, luckily (because we didn't move here for the climate), are in one of the better places to be. Chicago near the Lake has fresh water, is less prone to tornadoes, which don't generally come this far into the city, and has developed a greener, more sustainable lakefront. We have to keep our present progressive city and state government in power, or we could lose this advantage, so vigilance is required. We are seeing changes in our weather patterns, with cooler longer springs and then hot summers that last longer into fall.
I worry about my sister, who lives in Florida. She has been talking about moving back to the Midwest and I hope she will do so before things become so bad in the South and in Florida in particular that she can't sell her condo.
My husband and I are in Connecticut. We’re close to retirement and have been looking around to see where we may want to go. We absolutely love New Mexico, but it seems irresponsible to move there and put more of a burden on resources and it’s becoming hotter than I think we can manage. Unless we go to Europe (I’m Swedish), we’ll probably just stay in CT. The weather here is changing, but so far not with the same devastating consequences as other parts of the country.
Hello from SW Montana. We've had a green summer with moderate heat this year. 20 degree F below, this past winter. Last year, the Yellowstone River flooded. I live 40 miles from Yellowstone Park. I'm sitting on a volcano. It could be worse, I see, from following the weather reports. Best to all out there, and us too in MT. Thank you Steven, for opening this sharing here. Lisa
Absolutely, yes !!! I watch the news showing the devastation in Maui from the extreme wildfires; and I feel traumatized. To think that in such a short period of time the lived of so many people were changed for the worse, permanently, is a very scary concept. Many people lost everything they had, including their homes. It is unimaginable to understand how they rebuild their lives, starting from nothing. Also, it is frightening to realize that such destruction, which we will probably find out is at least in part due to the fact that we are not taking care of the environment, could happen anywhere. We can't go around living in fear all of the time. However, this should be a wakeup call that we can't ignore the environment and climate change. For me personally, Hawaii is on my bucket list. In my mind I have images of beautiful islands with lovely beaches and charming towns ,and the historic Pearl Harbor. However, I do feel a little more uncertain about taking a trip there in the future. My personal bucket list items are, however, on the back burner, as the real issue is savings whoever and whatever can be saved in Maui, and helping those Hawaiians who survived but lost everything create a new life.
Yes, extreme weather does influence the decisions that I make. Here in Africa, for instance, we are an agricultural family just like other societies. That means we have to move to agriculture-favorable environment to grow crops for domestic and commercial use. When adverse dynamic weather is prevalent, our family suffer financially due to lost crops. So, weather can't be ignored.
In a word - yes. Not in actual planning or actions yet. From the science-only side of things, the coasts are out. We will see what a Category 6 Hurricane might look like in the next ten years. So, yeah, Florida is out.
I Always thought it was shortsighted on many levels to not accept that the climate crisis is really happening. Even if it wasn’t happening, what’s the reason for not trying to mitigate its effects NOW? What would it hurt to figure out better, more environmentally responsible a solutions.
Like with the use of fossil fuels, trying to develop alternative sources of energy would help America break its dependency on them & the countries that control the flow of oil. Wouldn’t it be in our own self interest NOT to give these countries the POWER to control us & our policies & politics. What would it hurt to get “ahead of the game” so to speak? To mitigate the effect of climate on our lives.
We chose to live in Western New York but our climate here is also changing.
Winters are getting warmer & less severe but summers are getting hotter & more muggy. Can’t imagine living in Arizona with temperatures being in the 100-120 range on a daily basis. Where falling down on the pavement can cause severe burns!
If we stay ignorant of climate issues for too much more, there won’t be anywhere else to go to, to avoid the effects of our climate crisis! Then it’s TOO LATE!
I’m a retired attorney who moved from Philadelphia to Long Island, NY to help caretake my two 90+ year old parents. My father passed away in July ‘21 and mother in July “23. I’m selling the house on Long Island and had hoped to move to California or the Pacific Northwest. Not now.
I’ve been do my own layman’s climate change research to help me decide where to move next. Here are my choices:
(1) Upstate NY near the Great Lakes (Buffalo; Ithaca)
(2) New England (Vermont, Massachusetts, or New Hampshire);
(3) Costa Rica (equator); or
(4) Europe. (Amsterdam, Portugal, Albania*, or Greece)
Number (3) and (4) are particularly attractive because I’m tired of dealing with the present political atmosphere in the U.S. for the obvious reasons.
Many of the people at the boarder are victims of extreme weather as are others around the world. Environmental migration is going to increase. Most countries are not that welcoming to these desperate people or downright hostile to them.
I’ve stopped flying for pleasure. I moved to a condo (exceedingly more energy efficient than a single family home). I’m now in a super-walkable area, so I drive only occasionally. I eat eat less meat. I buy much less clothing. My ‘footprint’ is still too large, but I’ve shrunk it considerably.
I live near Chicago and will stay here. We have fewer climate-related risks than much of the country. In fact, this summer has been pretty mild, as was last winter. We have a humongous body of fresh water next to us that keeps us hydrated and moderates the seasonal weather extremes. Plus we have wonderful restaurants, theater, culture, universities. I can’t imagine retiring to a southern or western or coastal state. Heat and wildfires and tropical storms are not my thing.
This has been in my awareness for quite some time and it remains an unsettling conundrum. I’ve been watching “Extrapolations” on Apple+ - fascinating and chilling. It would seem that the stranglehold on our forward movement is corporate greed and willful ignorance of the long term effects of our current tac.
I've been tracking an increase in extreme weather in my area since about 2010. We've had excessive snow load crashing roofs, two tropical storms in two years that trashed shoreline neighborhoods, a heavy snow on fully leafed trees in October, taking many such trees down, and an increase in extreme weather generally. I am glad I am eight miles north of the beach in my shoreline town. I don't have to worry about storm surge but I do constantly worry about trees falling on the house from increasingly common high-wind events. Power outages of multiple days have become commonplace since TS Irene in 2011. None of this was normal when I first moved to this town in south central Connecticut more than 20 years ago. I fear for my small town with a future prediction of six feet of sea level rise in Long Island Sound. My response to all this has been to become active in conservation advocacy.
Well I can think of one thing that could help tamp down ongoing environmental issues. WORK FROM HOME. During the lockdown and wfh period in 2020-2021-ish, the air was cleaner. Think of the savings on gas for a vehicle, the sheer number of vehicles, and the west and tear on it. Then the human energy related to getting ready for, commuting to and from an office. Next, consider how mush waste office buildings produce - relative to typically very wasteful and inept HVAC, and the use of our resources. Lastly, one may not think this is an issue, while many will - but the savings on extra ‘work attire’ clothing! Clothing in of itself is a horrible environmental issue.
I do not see how this couldn’t help.
Not sure it affects my future plans too much, except that it makes me very sad. I teach teens and I see that they have hugh anxiety about what the world will look like when they are my age. We have been talking about climate change/global warming since I was in school in the late 80s. I find it difficult to be optimistic for my students
The question is: where would one move TO? It truly is a small blue dot in the universe, and at this point, there are no guarantees that anyplace will be immune to unpredictable and devastating events. But yes, the extreme heat and drought even at 7,000 ft. In N. NM this summer was positively oppressive…and the worst part is: no monsoon to give us that beautiful balance and nourish the lands. Gardens are perishing, even xeric native perennial ones. 😔 it almost feels like my own days in a place close to paradise until now….are ending.
Americans are always accused of refusing to pay attention until the fire is burning down the door... well, we are there with climate warming/heating. I betting 50% of us will keep reading the subversive media of FOX and its spawn... keep hanging by their feet, seeing the world up-side-down.... keep denying until they drown, burn up, starve or get shot by a climate refugee who needs their space. Grim morning, sorry.
There are already people trying to move to more hospitable places to live - for example some farmers in Guatemala whose land has become too dry to farm. People can only move to other places if other people are welcoming, which is often not so.
I am from Canada and many people I know are selling their places in Arizona and California and Florida.
And opting to stay in Canada in places, like Victoria or Vancouver, which have great weather with none of the nasty politics, horrendous, gun violence, and, of course, extreme temperatures!
I would say if Americans don’t know this yet, they’re simply a frog in a warming pot. At some point when the economies start reflecting the reality of your politics , guns and extreme weather.... they will clue in that it’s all self inflicted.
Good luck to our American friends as they grapple with some serious issues.
But until then you can find more and more of us staying right here in Canada, where sadly climate change, virtually, no handguns and our healthcare system is making a nicer just to stay home.
I believe the overwhelming majority of us know that we need immediate climate action to forestall unfixable issues. What alarms me the most is Corporate Media's refusal to acknowledge it. When 97/100 scientists agree-they still give each side 50-50 coverage. How irresponsible & short-sided can they be. Shame on them all. As for our family, we all live in Blue states & we travel with respect
My comment is about where I had planned to move to in my retirement. I had been planning a move to somewhere like La Paz in Baja California. However, given that everywhere there is so hot, I’ve decided that staying right here in foggy and cooler summer temps San Francisco is where I should spend the rest of my days. This presents another problem, I won’t be able to afford to retire living here. So, retirement in 2025 is now off the table.
Oh, I know “the big one” is due here in Northern California and by that I mean an earthquake. So, it just goes to show one that nowhere is safe from the power and strength of this fantastic planet upon which we humans are surely a pestilence.
I’m no stranger to natural catastrophes. When a 14 year old I experienced the Great Alaska Earthquake, almost 5 minutes at 9.2. But this is no natural catastrophe, it is a man-made one. And hell hath no fury than Gaia scorned.
I live in the Chicago suburbs. We’ve had some powerful storms this summer, but I love living here. When I was a travel nurse, I spent a year in California, 2 years in Tucson, 2 years in Memphis. The heat in Tucson in summer was literally like walking into an oven. I loved The Bay Area but again, so many fires in NoCal. Memphis was humid like a sauna. I don’t plan on flying anywhere anytime soon, always road trips for me. I’ve read about all the entertainers who have been jetting around this summer, and as I understand it’s their job, I wonder about their carbon footprint. I don’t buy anything unnecessary. I still wear shirts, jeans, coats, and shoes that are 20 years old. I think if we collectively diminished our conspicuous consumption, it would help the planet. Nobody needs more stuff.
I definitely plan my trips in advance based on what the weather may be. When I first moved to Idaho, I lived in Ketchum Sun Valley area. I never flew home for the holidays because of snowstorms. Now, it seems as if all the airlines have delays due to weather in part of the country. Road trips for me!
If I could, I would move to a blue state only to save my sanity.
When lawmakers forbid the use of terms like climate change, global warming and attach prison sentences to the use of these terms you know we are all going to perish
Since the October 2017 fire storm here in Sonoma County we no longer plan vacations during peak fire season.
Several years ago our neighbor moved to Maui to get away from the frequent wild fires here. Oh, the irony! Fortunately they are not in or near Lahaina.
I planned on leaving my rural town in MN but MN is amazing, we just so desperately need new people! Anyone!? SOS.
I live in Florida. When I open the front door, it feels like a wet washcloth hits my face. It is too hot to take a walk. Flower plants need watered twice a day. To run the AC constantly would break the bank, at least mine, so a lot of times, just the fans. Am insulated somewhat between 2 townhouses. I cannot move, my daughters' lives are here, workwise, , and I need to be near them when I need help. Daughters better than daughters in law, son living in NJ. But NJ has been having a time of it, too. Would love to live back in central PA, cooler weather, places of memories, but all I knew, relatives, parents,, even cousins, dead. I have outlasted them all.
I read that President Biden building whatever to draw carbon out of the air. GOP will not want to give him the $$. OK for trump to up the debt, but not Biden. Then we have people like Manchin who thrive on coal money, as does China. We have those who would mine in our national lands. trump makes a snowball in the winter and so poo poos climate change. An article says if we go up 2 more degrees Celcius,, 70% of sea level will rise causing floods, salty water, terrible heat waves , all by possibly mid century.
The 21st century was supposed to be better, more humane and peaceful than the 20th. Nope ! No world war.........yet, but who knows with the Ukranian calamity. Putin nuttier than trump.Xi worse than Putin, just in more subtle ways.
So, no where to go, no individual way to change things.. 40% of sheep think they are just sweating because it is summer. What to do??????
They have grown a watermelon in Antarctica.
Just cancelled an October trip to Kaanapali, where my family has had condos since the 1970s, and my brother lives. First it was Paradise, California, now just paradise. FU climate change (checks notes) I mean global burning.
Teslas, organic food, decolonizing and all the BS we are consumed with as solutions make me cringe. We do not have the moral courage to transition appropriately. A low carbon future needs to be built from the ground up - meaning our policies must affect and improve the livelihoods of the absolute poorest ok the planet first. To deny the developing world prosperity is evil. Given how we treated the third world during Covid, I have little hope for anything groundbreaking on climate.
I live in southeastern AZ which is wine country. The extreme heat this summer is affecting wine grapes, which need our normally cooler summer temps in the mid 80s (we are at 5,000 ft) to flourish. This summer we saw more days at 100 degrees than I ever remember. I am currently building a cut flower farm and I wonder what my future in that industry will look like. Add in fears of losing groundwater.
There is no escaping this so the sooner we accept it and stop being foolish, the better.
I visited Lahaina (Maui) for the first time last October. I’m heartbroken that the entire town is gone. I keep thinking that they would have been better off taking a direct hit by that hurricane. Yes, damage would have happened but they are more prepared for storms and it would have brought much needed rain. When I was there last fall, I noticed how dry it was and wondered if that was normal.
I live 3 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and after narrowly escaping hurricane Ian last fall, I am reconsidering where I live. (Don’t even get me started with DeFascist. I lived here before he got elected. 🙄) It’s not sustainable and I’m just waiting on an insurance letter to show up saying rates are increasing. We are already on state insurance even though we are in a non-evac zone. We used to live at the beach but moved to higher ground a few years ago. Before that, I used to live in the PNW and fires now are an every year occurrence. It wasn’t like that in the 90s. I don’t think anywhere is safe, we are already living in the midst of climate change. The question is, can we reverse it or is it too late?
Live in the upper Midwest which seems like one of the safest places on earth right now. Planning on doing solar and geothermal so getting off the grid entirely.
I don’t mean to downplay the effects of climate change, but isn’t this also the year of El Nino? I have heard very little about this phenomenon in the press. Personally, I have never lived through a disaster and hope I never will. That being said: I live in the Netherlands and our home is 6 feet below sea level. The dikes protect us. But in February 1953 due to a severe storm in the North Sea and exceptionally high tides, the dikes broke and 1853 people drowned. That disaster lead to the Delta Plan to prevent anything similar happening again. I hope our engineers got it right! The past few summers however have brought much higher temperatures and less rain than we usually get.
As the earth becomes more populated, just passed 8 Billion, we have to be smarter about our resources for starters. In addition, building at tops of mountains or bottoms of valleys is quickly becoming a thing of the past. How we build it is also critical, but it all costs money. It won’t be the survival of the fittest, but the survival of the wealthiest, nations and individuals.
For my retirement this year, I deliberately relocated to somewhere I felt safer from upcoming extreme weather. The next 20 years or so may become hellish. I pity future generations.
Yes, emphatically. Had I known that I would not be able to move to Canada after I retired, I would have made sure to have gone years ago. Many people have things that they just can't tolerate: bugs, snakes, cold, snow, overcast and cloudy much of the year. Mine is heat. I plan to just keep going north until it isn't hot anymore for at least the half a year I'm allowed. If I never had to see the sun again, I'd heave a sigh of relief!
I put this in par with the willful disregard of politicians to address gun responsibility. These are our children and grandchildren they’re preparing to effectively murder, at the very least robbing them of a future traumatized by imminent catastrophe. Why we must participate in politics if only at the voting level, more if possible.
I am from Chicago too but retired to Spain. The last two weeks have been extremely hot and humid, with 95° and 85% or more humidity. We have been hibernating at home with sun shades pulled down and only going out for a a quick dog walk. People who have lived here many years say it’s never been this hot before, especially for so long.
I don’t think we will move but we are worried. I wonder if our children should even have children because Earth’s future looks so grim. I pray that all governments come to their senses soon and do everything possible to reduce CO2 emissions and help heal our planet before it’s too late.
I would love to retire near the ocean. Preferably somewhere with kind of sandy beaches I lived as a kid. My best friend wants me to join her in retiring to the Mediterranean. I’m not sure either is feasible--the Mediterranean will be too hot for me to tolerate and lots of the beaches I loved as a kid will be gone with rising sea levels.
Even if living in those spots remains tolerable for the rest of my lifetime, I can’t see putting my limited financial resources into living situations with no future in them. It’s throwing money into a hole.
My wife and I moved to Omaha from Austin, where we could no longer tolerate the intense triple digit temperatures. We realize this may be a short-term solution, but we're older and don't need long-term solutions at this point. The planet, however, does need long-term solutions. It's long past time to end our dependence on fossil fuels. If this doesn't happen we're screwed.
We have already situated ourselves in a part of the country that's likely to remain cool enough and generally free of areal disasters (occasionally hurricanes) and that is southern New England on high ground. I say less likely because we currently have various plagues affecting our woodlands right now and forest fires will become more likely in the future as trees succumb and die though we generally get adequate rain here, this year an entire years worth of it in a few months. We've lived in Alaska, the midwest, my husband is from California and we had thought about returning to the west but after experiencing major droughts and with every real estate transaction diving into water rights on the west coast, we opted to go east. This might not be our last move. I feel fortunate to have the resources to make a move if it proves to be necessary.
I grew up in Chicago too and remember that tornado in the 1960s. We hunkered in the basement while it roared, loud as a freight train or jet engine, over us. Devastation everywhere but in patches. We must act decisively to restore our environment’s health!
I've always been fair skinned with a low tolerance for high temperatures and clearly was better suited to the upper latitudes.
I currently live in the American Southeast, where the heat is predictable all summer, but I find as I get older ("I'm not THAT old!") I tolerate the heat even less. I have to consign myself to mowing the lawn in that narrow window at 8:02am, where we're finally outside the "quiet hours" dictated by my neighhborhood covenants, but before it's already in the eighties.
As for grocery shopping and other errands, I've got to do it in the morning before it gets too hot, or even just walking across scorching parking lots and getting into a hot car put me in jeopardy of getting a heat headache and nausea for the rest of the day.
Any outing where I need to go out after midday, and I've had to start bringing an icepack with me, so I can immediately counteract heat retention in my body by putting the ice pack on my head, neck, and extremities as needed.
It's only been in the nineties here most days. I cannot imagine what it's like to live anywhere that's hitting the 100+ temps for days in a row. Miserable. Arguably uninhabitable for much longer.
Like many young folks, I feel paralyzed by the increasing apocalyptic climate catastrophes & continued corruption of cultures, as you point out. When I was a young person, last century, the world was an "oyster", full of limitless places & possibilities & adventures. What is being crushed & stolen is possibility, a quality of freedom. Where can one think of "escaping" to now? Even paradise is going under water or up in smoke. I refuse now to drive anywhere of distance, or take a plane, every petro-emission limited to utter necessity. Plans for the future? How to survive the madness & meltdown seeping in all around the edges... w/o being rounded up by militias or be driven to self-destruction. Making it to next morning's herbal tea.
I'm 87 and long retired. My wife retired about a year ago. For a while, we thought about moving to Oregon to be closer to friends who live there. But it's hotter there than it is here in the Seattle area. We also thought of moving to Bellingham, about as near to Canada as we could go. But lots of others are apparently doing that, so the housing prices are going up fast. We once thought of living near the ocean, but that's not a great option with sea levels rising and stronger storms. So we think we'll stay put, and hope things don't get worse too fast. We worry for our son, though. It's going to be tough for him if we don't slow or reverse these trends.
Yes! As I am considering retirement, I want moderate temps, water supply, and a community with good local government.
Extreme weather and observable trends in climate patterns/changes have informed our choices for where we live. We chose and always have chosen houses that are not in a flood plain. We live in what is now a fairly moderate climate in Ohio. From what I can gather, our largest future risk is storms intensifying, but who knows? As I type this, I see we're under a tornado watch.
Water shortages shouldn't be an issue, we hope, because of close proximity to the Great Lakes. We don't foresee forest fires becoming a major threat because we don't have massive forests. So, we're choosing to stay here, gambling I suppose, that it will be less horrible than, say, places where water is scarce or coastal areas where the threat of hurricanes and flooding is growing. But it's just a guess, isn't it? I would have thought Canada was a pretty great place to be during extreme climate change. But the tragic forest fires this year have caused me to rethink that. I still love Canada.
I guess I wouldn't want to gamble on living where the writing seems to be on the wall about extreme climate changes that affect the livability of a place, no matter how long it's been home. It's a very hard thing to recognize that it's time to get out.
I have thought about whether we are living in a place that will remain habitable. I feel like we, luckily (because we didn't move here for the climate), are in one of the better places to be. Chicago near the Lake has fresh water, is less prone to tornadoes, which don't generally come this far into the city, and has developed a greener, more sustainable lakefront. We have to keep our present progressive city and state government in power, or we could lose this advantage, so vigilance is required. We are seeing changes in our weather patterns, with cooler longer springs and then hot summers that last longer into fall.
I worry about my sister, who lives in Florida. She has been talking about moving back to the Midwest and I hope she will do so before things become so bad in the South and in Florida in particular that she can't sell her condo.
My state Colorado a semi-arid state has suffered many more fires than I ever remember while growing up
In 2003 I purchased my first air conditioner not so much because of the heat but because of forest fire smoke
I’m 2020, 21, 22 like other cities the sky was nearly totally grey for days; air unbreathable.
As a retiree I love to grow vegetables and flowers and work outside-some days just not possible
I’m 2023 we had 85 or so of upper 98,99 etc degree days - not as hot as Arizona but still rough to garden
Plus my water bill that year was $300.00 for all my gardens and a little grass
I have 10 trees so the shade really helped.
I thought of moving north
Then Canada forests erupted in to flames
I thought of moving to New Zealand
The Earth gives us life
We are killing our Earth with our actions and inactions
I still have hope
Thank you
I live on a barrier beach island on the South Shore of Long Island. (Think Sandy).
I just put on a new roof and find myself wondering if I've tempted any fates by doing so. Like washing your car and then it rains.
My husband and I are in Connecticut. We’re close to retirement and have been looking around to see where we may want to go. We absolutely love New Mexico, but it seems irresponsible to move there and put more of a burden on resources and it’s becoming hotter than I think we can manage. Unless we go to Europe (I’m Swedish), we’ll probably just stay in CT. The weather here is changing, but so far not with the same devastating consequences as other parts of the country.
Hello from SW Montana. We've had a green summer with moderate heat this year. 20 degree F below, this past winter. Last year, the Yellowstone River flooded. I live 40 miles from Yellowstone Park. I'm sitting on a volcano. It could be worse, I see, from following the weather reports. Best to all out there, and us too in MT. Thank you Steven, for opening this sharing here. Lisa
Absolutely, yes !!! I watch the news showing the devastation in Maui from the extreme wildfires; and I feel traumatized. To think that in such a short period of time the lived of so many people were changed for the worse, permanently, is a very scary concept. Many people lost everything they had, including their homes. It is unimaginable to understand how they rebuild their lives, starting from nothing. Also, it is frightening to realize that such destruction, which we will probably find out is at least in part due to the fact that we are not taking care of the environment, could happen anywhere. We can't go around living in fear all of the time. However, this should be a wakeup call that we can't ignore the environment and climate change. For me personally, Hawaii is on my bucket list. In my mind I have images of beautiful islands with lovely beaches and charming towns ,and the historic Pearl Harbor. However, I do feel a little more uncertain about taking a trip there in the future. My personal bucket list items are, however, on the back burner, as the real issue is savings whoever and whatever can be saved in Maui, and helping those Hawaiians who survived but lost everything create a new life.
Yes, extreme weather does influence the decisions that I make. Here in Africa, for instance, we are an agricultural family just like other societies. That means we have to move to agriculture-favorable environment to grow crops for domestic and commercial use. When adverse dynamic weather is prevalent, our family suffer financially due to lost crops. So, weather can't be ignored.
In a word - yes. Not in actual planning or actions yet. From the science-only side of things, the coasts are out. We will see what a Category 6 Hurricane might look like in the next ten years. So, yeah, Florida is out.
I Always thought it was shortsighted on many levels to not accept that the climate crisis is really happening. Even if it wasn’t happening, what’s the reason for not trying to mitigate its effects NOW? What would it hurt to figure out better, more environmentally responsible a solutions.
Like with the use of fossil fuels, trying to develop alternative sources of energy would help America break its dependency on them & the countries that control the flow of oil. Wouldn’t it be in our own self interest NOT to give these countries the POWER to control us & our policies & politics. What would it hurt to get “ahead of the game” so to speak? To mitigate the effect of climate on our lives.
We chose to live in Western New York but our climate here is also changing.
Winters are getting warmer & less severe but summers are getting hotter & more muggy. Can’t imagine living in Arizona with temperatures being in the 100-120 range on a daily basis. Where falling down on the pavement can cause severe burns!
If we stay ignorant of climate issues for too much more, there won’t be anywhere else to go to, to avoid the effects of our climate crisis! Then it’s TOO LATE!
I’m a retired attorney who moved from Philadelphia to Long Island, NY to help caretake my two 90+ year old parents. My father passed away in July ‘21 and mother in July “23. I’m selling the house on Long Island and had hoped to move to California or the Pacific Northwest. Not now.
I’ve been do my own layman’s climate change research to help me decide where to move next. Here are my choices:
(1) Upstate NY near the Great Lakes (Buffalo; Ithaca)
(2) New England (Vermont, Massachusetts, or New Hampshire);
(3) Costa Rica (equator); or
(4) Europe. (Amsterdam, Portugal, Albania*, or Greece)
Number (3) and (4) are particularly attractive because I’m tired of dealing with the present political atmosphere in the U.S. for the obvious reasons.
Many of the people at the boarder are victims of extreme weather as are others around the world. Environmental migration is going to increase. Most countries are not that welcoming to these desperate people or downright hostile to them.
I’ve stopped flying for pleasure. I moved to a condo (exceedingly more energy efficient than a single family home). I’m now in a super-walkable area, so I drive only occasionally. I eat eat less meat. I buy much less clothing. My ‘footprint’ is still too large, but I’ve shrunk it considerably.
I live near Chicago and will stay here. We have fewer climate-related risks than much of the country. In fact, this summer has been pretty mild, as was last winter. We have a humongous body of fresh water next to us that keeps us hydrated and moderates the seasonal weather extremes. Plus we have wonderful restaurants, theater, culture, universities. I can’t imagine retiring to a southern or western or coastal state. Heat and wildfires and tropical storms are not my thing.
This has been in my awareness for quite some time and it remains an unsettling conundrum. I’ve been watching “Extrapolations” on Apple+ - fascinating and chilling. It would seem that the stranglehold on our forward movement is corporate greed and willful ignorance of the long term effects of our current tac.
I've been tracking an increase in extreme weather in my area since about 2010. We've had excessive snow load crashing roofs, two tropical storms in two years that trashed shoreline neighborhoods, a heavy snow on fully leafed trees in October, taking many such trees down, and an increase in extreme weather generally. I am glad I am eight miles north of the beach in my shoreline town. I don't have to worry about storm surge but I do constantly worry about trees falling on the house from increasingly common high-wind events. Power outages of multiple days have become commonplace since TS Irene in 2011. None of this was normal when I first moved to this town in south central Connecticut more than 20 years ago. I fear for my small town with a future prediction of six feet of sea level rise in Long Island Sound. My response to all this has been to become active in conservation advocacy.