How to Stay Safer in Places Getting More Dangerous
The insurance letter arrived in July, the kind with official letterhead and apologetic language. My cousin in Phoenix read it twice, then called me. Her mother's doctors are there. Her daughter finally has friends. She can't move, she said, her voice tight. So what do I do?
I didn't have an answer then. But I've spent the past year talking to families who are staying anyway, who've figured out how to make it work. They're making the choice they're making, and they need help making it as safely as possible.
How to Stay Safer in Places Getting More Dangerous
The insurance letter arrived in July, the kind with official letterhead and apologetic language. My cousin in Phoenix read it twice, then called me. Her mother's doctors are there. Her daughter finally has friends. She can't move, she said, her voice tight. So what do I do?
I didn't have an answer then. But I've spent the past year talking to families who are staying anyway, who've figured out how to make it work. They're making the choice they're making, and they need help making it as safely as possible.
The Architecture of Impossible Optimism, 2020-2030
I've been working at the Climate Transition Archive for six years. Today I'm writing wall text for Gallery One. The object is an air conditioning unit.
Carrier Infinity 21, three tons, SEER2 rating 21. Installed March 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. Cost $18,400. Donated by estate of Robert Martinez, 2029. The unit sits on a platform in the center of the gallery. White metal housing, about three feet square. Compressor seized. I've cataloged forty-seven of these. The Martinez unit operated four summers. Monthly cost during peak season: $240-$280. The AC was running when he died.
The Architecture of Impossible Optimism, 2020-2030
I've been working at the Climate Transition Archive for six years. Today I'm writing wall text for Gallery One. The object is an air conditioning unit.
Carrier Infinity 21, three tons, SEER2 rating 21. Installed March 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. Cost $18,400. Donated by estate of Robert Martinez, 2029. The unit sits on a platform in the center of the gallery. White metal housing, about three feet square. Compressor seized. I've cataloged forty-seven of these. The Martinez unit operated four summers. Monthly cost during peak season: $240-$280. The AC was running when he died.
An Interview with a "Staying Coach" Who Helps People Accept They'll Never Leave
CONTINUE READINGThe Calculation
Moving costs $8,400 minimum: $4,300 transport, $4,100 deposits. A household earning $45,000 annually needs $108,000 to qualify for median rent in climate-safe metros ($3,600/month at 2.5x income requirement). They earn half that.
Homeowners face worse arithmetic. Selling a $280,000 Phoenix property (down 18% from climate concerns) to buy in Duluth ($340,000, up 12% from climate migration) requires $68,000 cash beyond equity. Median non-housing wealth: $51,400.
At $75,000 income: possible but depletes all reserves. At $45,000: mathematically impossible. At $120,000: feasible with significant loss.
Seventy-three percent of American households cannot fund climate relocation without catastrophic financial damage. They stay because leaving costs more than staying, even as staying becomes uninhabitable.