We often conceive of climate change as a future problem, one to be faced decades from now, when rising seas and failed harvests will send people fleeing from their homes. But in fact, climate change is already driving migration today, even in prosperous countries like the United States.
We see it reported regularly in the news: American homes swept away by record-breaking storms and surging seas or burned to ash by uncontrollable wildfires. This trend is mirrored around the world, and yet there is no legally recognized status—and thus no legal right to asylum—for “climate refugees." It’s a problem that is only growing more serious.
Join the Carnegie Endowment online for a conversation and audience Q&A featuring Jake Bittle and Noah J. Gordon on Bittle’s latest book, The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. Sarah Labowitz will offer a special introduction to the program.