Climate Change, United States ‘Nowhere is safe’: heat shatters vision of Pacific north-west as climate refuge

Perry World House Visiting Fellow Jesse Keenan comments on recent extreme heat events in the Pacific Northwest of America.

The recent heatwave that broiled the US Pacific north-west not only obliterated temperature records in cities such as Seattle and Portland – it also put a torch to a comforting bromide that the region would be a mild, safe haven from the ravages of the climate crisis...

“There are a lot of people moving up from California with the idea there’s a lot of natural amenities and a lot of cheap space but all of these factors are changing,” said Jesse Keenan, an expert in climate adaptation at Tulane University. “It’s becoming less affordable and is increasingly burdened by forest fires, terrible smoke, flash floods and these heatwaves that suddenly make things a matter of life or death.”

Read more in The Guardian >>