Scenes of the smoldering ruins of Lahaina, Maui, are the latest evidence that no place, no matter how idyllic, is safe from climate disruption. The wildfires that destroyed the town this week are the deadliest in the modern history of the U.S.

The Maui wildfires were far more lethal but they share common elements with the floods that ravaged parts of Vermont last month. Both disasters were fueled by climate change. And both have displaced numerous people from their homes.

Disasters such as these are expected to force millions of Americans from their homes and communities in coming years. Many residents will never return. In 2021, one in three Americans had experienced some kind of weather disaster.

Journalists Tik Root and Jake Bittle cover climate change as staff writers for Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Root recently reported on how FEMA’s flood maps failed to cover many areas in Vermont that were flooded this July. As a result, many flooded residents falsely believed they were outside the flood zone. The outdated maps reflect past floods and do not take climate change into account.

Bittle is the author of a new book, “The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration.” He said that climate change is forcing a mass migration in the U.S. as people try to escape the next climate disaster. This migration is different than the Great Migration in which Blacks fled from the south to the north to escape political persecution, slavery and Jim Crow laws.

“The migration from climate starts all over the country, it starts in coastal areas, in the desert, in wildfire areas, and the movement is much more chaotic.

“It's not so much that you're picking up in one place and moving all the way across the country to another place. It's that you're being buffeted around by these bigger forces.”

This summer’s floods disabused many people of that notion that Vermont is a safe haven from climate chaos.



“There's a big question about where people will go,” Bittle said. But rebuilding or relocating after disaster opens up new possibilities. “You have an opportunity to build a society that is safer and fairer and more equitable.”