the article assumes western NC used to be seen as a climate haven. Beats me who the author was talking to, but that has NEVER been on my bingo card.
Those article headlines were a little wild. I kinda assumed that TN would be the place where you’d start to worry less about hurricanes, though evidently even that wasn’t enough; if someone is moving to a more resilient place regarding hurricanes, presumably they’d usually want to pick somewhere like Ohio or Michegan? Moving to North Carolina might be better than Houston, but it’s far from safe from hurricanes
* Orlando, FL * Knoxville, TN * Charlottesville, VA * Lynchburg, VA * Johnson City, TN
All of these cities are facing severe threats from heat, hurricanes, and flooding (sometimes all three), and it doesn’t take a climate scientist to see that these weren’t great picks. To use that as “proof” that there are no climate havens is a stretch, at best.
Fundamentally, I agree with the premise that no area is completely safe from climate change. Low risk doesn’t mean no risk, and even if you manage to avoid natural disasters you’ll still be facing supply disruptions, economic aftershocks, social unrest, migration, and such. That said, there is a lot of great data out there on climate risk and we should absolutely be putting it to use if we’re considering relocation. I’ve compiled a [series of climate risk maps](https://www.reliance.school/maps) on my website, in the hopes of making that data a little easier to understand.
Ultimately it comes down to how much financial/personal freedom we have, and whether or not we’re willing to give up family, work, and community ties in search of higher ground.
3 comments
the article assumes western NC used to be seen as a climate haven. Beats me who the author was talking to, but that has NEVER been on my bingo card.
Those article headlines were a little wild. I kinda assumed that TN would be the place where you’d start to worry less about hurricanes, though evidently even that wasn’t enough; if someone is moving to a more resilient place regarding hurricanes, presumably they’d usually want to pick somewhere like Ohio or Michegan? Moving to North Carolina might be better than Houston, but it’s far from safe from hurricanes
Crazy to see all these news outlets jumping in on this narrative. This whole story started from one guy putting Asheville on a [list of climate-safe cities](https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/23/best-cities-avoid-worst-climate-change-effects/70212382007/), which also included:
* Orlando, FL
* Knoxville, TN
* Charlottesville, VA
* Lynchburg, VA
* Johnson City, TN
All of these cities are facing severe threats from heat, hurricanes, and flooding (sometimes all three), and it doesn’t take a climate scientist to see that these weren’t great picks. To use that as “proof” that there are no climate havens is a stretch, at best.
Fundamentally, I agree with the premise that no area is completely safe from climate change. Low risk doesn’t mean no risk, and even if you manage to avoid natural disasters you’ll still be facing supply disruptions, economic aftershocks, social unrest, migration, and such. That said, there is a lot of great data out there on climate risk and we should absolutely be putting it to use if we’re considering relocation. I’ve compiled a [series of climate risk maps](https://www.reliance.school/maps) on my website, in the hopes of making that data a little easier to understand.
Ultimately it comes down to how much financial/personal freedom we have, and whether or not we’re willing to give up family, work, and community ties in search of higher ground.