Is Michigan prepared to be a climate refuge? – WDET 101.9 FM

Ryan Patrick Hooper

In a not-so-distant future, it’s potential that locations like Houston, Texas might have summers that really feel extra like Pakistan. It’s a part of the way in which our planet is reworking on account of local weather change, and a few areas might be extra affected than others.

Whereas the South may very well be too sizzling to dwell in, Michigan is projected to be a “local weather haven,” with delicate temperatures and entry to a number of contemporary water. However are we able to welcome thousands and thousands of people that transfer right here to reap the benefits of our pure sources?

Within the final couple of years, there have been 30 million individuals around the globe displaced by excessive climate because of local weather change, and right here within the U.S., as many as 50 million People might relocate to so-called “local weather havens” within the coming many years — seemingly a lot sooner relatively than later. The Mitten State is wanting like a really appetizing place to land.

MLive reporters Lindsay Moore and Sheri McWhirter just lately wrote about this phenomenon. Of their reporting, they write that “Michigan appears more and more enticing in a rustic the place wildfires flip million-dollar mansions to ash in California, hurricanes sink properties alongside Florida’s coasts and cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix face the alarming actuality the Colorado River will not maintain them.” Moore and McWhirter be part of CultureShift to debate how housing extra outsiders might impression Michigan’s present residents and ecology.

“We’re not selling [Michigan] as a playground for the rich. There are already people, particularly within the Southeast Michigan space, which can be actually in tune to the wealth disparity and to the socioeconomics right here.” — Lindsay Moore, MLive reporter