Dear Editor,
This September, The New York Times published âHow Climate Migration Will Reshape America,â the U.S.-based chapter in its series on climate migration. The piece confirmed what residents of Americaâs island territories have insisted for decades: that climate change in the United States is not a hypothetical, but a reality. Accompanying the article was a series of maps showing how global warming will inevitably alter the country as most Americans know it: one contiguous landmass stretching from sea to shining sea, with zero mention of its overseas territories.
This incomplete depiction of the U.S. should come as no surprise to any of the 4 million Americans living in the Caribbean; as Sondheim indelibly put it, âNobody knows in America, Puerto Ricoâs in America.â However, when it comes to climate policy, the mainlandâs consistent disregard of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands crosses the line from frustrating to actively harmful. These
File photo: Aftermath of Hurricane Florence in North Carolina
Believe it or not, in retrospect, the COVID-19 pandemic may seem inconsequential compared to what may be coming next.
The year 2020 was the planet’s shot across the bow, bringing a record series of damaging hurricanes, another year of uncontrolled wildfires, historic flooding, drought, and rising sea levels – all at the same time – and with more on the way.
The consequences will have devastating impacts on the climate, on the economy, on migratory patterns, on our ability to grow food, and even on livability of places we now consider Eden.
ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine teamed up to examine all this and to preview what’s ahead if we do nothing.