Sinking Islands, Pursued People -- Climate Refugees in the U.S. (2020)

Sinking Islands, Pursued People -- Climate Refugees in the U.S. (2020)

In 2020, approximately 1.7 million people in the United States have already lost their homes due to extreme weather events. Climate change disasters are not limited to sudden floods and hurricanes, but are slowly eroding people's lives in the form of rising sea levels and chronic flooding. In particular, the population of Jean Charles Island, Louisiana, declined dramatically with the loss of land, from more than 300 residents in the 1950s to only 40 in the 2010s. The federal government initiated a plan to relocate the island's entire population, spending $48 million to do so. This was the first "climate-induced mass relocation" in the U.S. and was considered the symbol of the "first climate refugees. It was also estimated that as many as 500,000 homes across the U.S. were at risk of flooding annually, and insurance programs to deal with natural disasters were reaching their limits. In parallel with national-level climate action setbacks, such as the withdrawal from the Paris
Agreement, local communities were grappling on the front lines of its effects. This quiet exodus was also a harbinger of the future many cities across the United States would face in the years to come.