Moving Into Harm's Way?

David Sirota and Julia Rock combine the US Census Bureau data for the last decade, with ProPublica maps of locations most prone to extreme heat, wildfires and flooding (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/16/us-climate-change-americans-census-data). Interestingly, Sirota and Rock found that most US population growth appeared to be in Western and coastal areas. This is where climate change is most threatening. Big increases were seen in people choosing to live in places like the Phoenix, South Florida and Texas Gulf coast. In contrast, very modest increases or even declines were seen in 'climate safer' areas, like upstate New York, Philadelphia and Vermont. Obviously, climate is not the only factor determining, where people will choose to live. Jobs, affordability, levels of crime, schools etc must play roles. It is suggested, however, that weak zoning regulations and land use laws have exacerbated the trend of people moving to 'climate dangerous' locations.