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The reason why I roam

Dorothea Lange
1936
Dorothea Lange
Oklahoma farm family, CA
1936
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A Roundtable Discussion by Grassroots Leaders
The videos and document linked below were the product of a series of roundtable discussions among grassroots leaders from ten low-income, Black, Latino, and Native American communities. They were convened by Anthropocene Alliance (A2) and The Climigration Network (CN) to address the Great American Climate Migration, the resettlement of some 30 million Americans that will occur in the next half-century due to climate change.

For the undersigned leaders, the crisis is now. They have suffered extreme heat, floods, and fires. Many must also confront racism, just like African Americans did during the Great Northward Migration (1916-1970). It’s well documented that Black, Latino and Indigenous communities in the U.S. are more likely than white ones to experience climate exacerbated disasters, and receive less government support for recovery.

Migrants are obviously not only non-white or poor. Anyone who lives in a floodplain (or near one), or in a region impacted by high heat and wildfires is liable to become a climate migrant. Anyone living on the Gulf, Atlantic or Pacific coasts may be forced to abandon their home.

Our goals in publishing these conversations are 1) to create a protocol for communities that decide to migrate; 2) encourage changes to the existing disaster relocation system to make it fairer and more effective; 3) ensure that unscrupulous developers don’t exploit vulnerable communities to profit from the Great American Climate Migration; and 4) suggest the best ways to encourage discussions about migration within communities, and between them and supporting agencies or charitable foundations.

And finally, we ask for the immediate creation of a Climate Migration Agency within a new Department of Climate Change. The crisis of climate change displacement has already reached a level where it needs significant investment of human and financial resources. A robust response now plus sound planning will help us avoid a catastrophic migration later.

Full document in English.
Spanish translation.
Press Release 

Videos