Last summer, scorching heat melted streetcar cables in Portland, Oregon, and smoke from simultaneous Western wildfires drifted across the continent, triggering “code red” air-quality alerts in Philadelphia. Hurricane Ida formed in the Caribbean, struck southern Louisiana on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and proceeded northeast and up the coast, causing tornadoes in eight states and flash flooding that killed at least 30 people in New Jersey alone.
As climate change accelerates, its effects are becoming both more obvious and more widespread, and Americans, like people everywhere, are contending with new challenges to their physical safety and overall quality of life. Extreme heat and drought, heavy rains, hurricanes, ice storms, sea-level rise, and floods threaten lives and livelihoods—and challenge the basic livability of many communities. But census data show populations continuing to grow in the parts of
