The Great Displacement by Jack Bittle

THE GREAT DISPLACEMENT by Jake Bittle joins a relatively small number of texts about climate migration, but journalist Bittle focuses on Climate Change and the Next American Migration, likely making his text more relatable for our national audience. That should be particularly true since he argues that “by the middle of the century, housing displacement will be the most visible and ubiquitous consequence of climate change” and estimates “in the United States alone, at least twenty million people may move as a result of climate change.” His examples are covered in separate chapters which deal, for example, with flooding in Houston, wildfires near Santa Rosa, drought in Arizona or rising seas near Norfolk. He discusses the role of government and business (e.g., insurance and agriculture) as well as offering individual relocation stories. The facts are well-documented with notes (followed by a helpful index) comprising roughly twenty-five percent of the text. THE GREAT DISPLACEMENT received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly. It would be interesting to compare some of his observations with data used in The New York Times interactive pieces on “The Climate Impact of Your Neighborhood, Mapped” or “Every Place Has Its Own Climate Risk. What Is It Where You Live?”