'North: The Future of Post-Climate America'

Climate change is already influencing how and where people live.

Join us at BESI as urban planner Jesse M. Keenan discusses his new book, North: The Future of Post-Climate America, which explores how climate change is shaping the physical and demographic future of the United States. The book documents a new era marked by shifts in population that are transforming everything from the physical landscape of cities to electoral politics. At the dawning of this era, new geographies of risk and opportunity are resulting from physical climate impacts and the adaptations of market economies.

Keenan reframes how people, markets, and public institutions shape human mobility and analyzes the capacity of American communities to adapt. With fast-moving markets and slow-moving governments, everyday people are caught in the crosshairs. While some will seek to preserve the status quo, others will relocate from places that are increasingly uninhabitable, too risky, or too expensive for permanent settlement. As the era of Sun Belt migration comes to an end and climate impacts accelerate, everything from local relocations to transcontinental climate migrations are already well underway.

At the same time, new geographies of opportunity are receiving zones for those seeking a more sustainable and less precarious way of life. North is more than a collection of scientific observations and projections about America’s future in the face of climate change. It’s a projection of optimism about America’s capacity for decarbonization, environmental stewardship, and population mobility.

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Speaker: Jesse Keenan, Tulane University