The untold story of climate migration—the personal stories of those experiencing displacement, the portraits of communities being torn apart by disaster, and the implications for all of us as we confront a changing future.
As Jake Bittle makes clear in his urgent and unsettling new book The Great Displacement, our time is up ... In both substance and setting, Bittle’s well-researched and vividly conveyed account distinguishes itself in the crowded field of climate change reporting by relying on catastrophic events that have already taken place, and that happened right here in the United States — events that caused loss of life, loss of community, loss of culture, and loss of innocence ... Unlike much contemporaneous disaster reporting, Bittle keeps the proverbial cameras rolling long after the winds have died down and the waters have receded.
Bittle covers the people whose lives have been altered by climate change — from drought in Arizona to coastal erosion in the bayous of south Louisiana — with real compassion, explaining why economic inequality makes many people unable to relocate ... He's an empathetic writer, but also one with a real gift for explaining the fraught issues — economic, scientific, political — that make the climate crisis and its effect on the population so complex. It sometimes feels too pat to call a book 'necessary,' but this one really is.
[Bittle is] an empathetic writer, but also one with a real gift for explaining the fraught issues — economic, scientific, political — that make the climate crisis and its effect on the population so complex ... The Great Displacement is a fascinating look at how America has changed, and will continue to change, as climate change wreaks havoc on the nation and the people who live there.
