Climate Change, Migration, and the Global Search for Home

Introduction; Lu’s Story: A Timeline; 1. The Reality of Climate Migration; 2. A Changing Planet; 3. Social, Political, and Economic Dimensions; 4. Drivers and Dynamics of Climate Migration; 5. Climate Adaptation: Panama's Guna Community (by Daniel O. Suman and Ana K. Spalding); 6. What Can Be Done?

Biography

Ariel C. Armony is provost and executive vice president at Babson College. He previously served as vice chancellor for global affairs and director of the University Center for International Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The recipient of Rockefeller Foundation and Woodrow Wilson Center fellowships, Armony has written on democracy, globalization, and the role of cities in the world economy. His last book is Emerging Global Cities: Origin, Structure, and Significance (2023), coauthored with Alejandro Portes.

Rosa Hassan De Ferrari is a global health practitioner and researcher specializing in gender-based violence, climate migration, and participatory research. Her work bridges policy, program implementation, and scholarship across Latin America, Africa, and the United States. She has previously published with Ariel Armony on several projects exploring migration, urbanization, and global change.

Jake Goldwasser is a cartoonist, writer, and teacher. His drawings regularly appear in The New Yorker and elsewhere, and his writing has appeared in The Baffler, New England Review, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa and currently teaches at the Horace Mann School.

“There is plenty of food for thought in this new book, which provides a timely contribution to understanding the dynamics of climate migration. The analysis presents the special challenges facing people in the Global South, and asks... What are we/you going to do about it?”

Charlotte Elton, economist and environmental activist, founding member of the Panamanian Center for Research and Social Action (CEASPA)

“In the muddy waters of climate mobility, Climate Change, Migration, and the Global Search for Home provides not only a clear water, jargon-free perspective on emerging behaviors, but it also offers a deep dive into people and places who are running out of air. Across the Global South and North, readers surface to find an authoritative voice on the consequences and opportunities facing global populations on the move.”

Jesse M. Keenan, author of North: The Future of Post-Climate America

“Climate change and migration are two of the defining issues of our time, and rarely are they examined together with both the rigor and accessibility this book brings. A genuinely nuanced guide, it meets readers where they are without sacrificing the complexity of the subject or the humanity of those most impacted.”

Daniel Berlin, migration and refugee rights expert

“Climate Change, Migration, and the Global Search for Home provides a readable, compelling, and compassionate entry point into how the changing climate is shifting life and mobility—and the concept of home—for communities around the globe.”

Katharine Mach, professor and chair of environmental science and policy, University of Miami

“This exploration of climate-induced migration is unique. It probes the interface of climate science, community creativity, and government efforts to mediate the two. Vivid case studies and illustrations reveal stories of tragedy, hope, and the search for home across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, and the United States.”

Adrian Hearn, professor of anthropology, University of Melbourne

"Immensely creative, capturing both the urgency of climate change and migration, as well as their complexity. This volume reflects the 21st century framework of global development—that development happens everywhere, that populations and the planet are interconnected, and that issues such as migration, climate change, poverty, homelessness, are never just about one thing. Siloed approaches to policy issues thus do not solve such challenges. The volume deploys deeply interdisciplinary modalities, as well as elevates the voices of scientists from the Global South where climate change and migration intersect most visibly. Most important perhaps, it centers humans in this story."

Amb. Sarah E. Mendelson, Director, Sustainable Futures, Carnegie Mellon University