There used to be a town in California called Greenville. It was nestled in a mountain valley, hidden by a screen of trees, and home to “retirees, hippies, bikers, rednecks, ranchers, [and] cowboys.”
Jake Bittle introduces us to Greenville in the opening lines of his book, The Great Displacement. But just as soon as Greenville is introduced, we also learn about its destruction, “Houses erupted into fluttering tufts of flame; cars shriveled up like dried flowers; light poles and stop signs doubled over; trees dissolved into yellow air.”
In 2021, a 150-year-old town disappeared in an evening. A summer wildfire, intensified by climate-induced drought, burned it to the ground.
For most, climate change has existed as an abstract idea represented by overwhelming graphs and figures depicting rising temperatures. Bittle’s book makes us confront the ways in which climate change is already reshaping our country: “Each passing year brings disasters that disfigure new parts of the United States, and these disasters alter the course of human lives, pushing people from one place to another, destroying old communities and forcing new ones to emerge.”
The Great Displacement looks at several communities that have been affected by climate change, and how the lives of the surviving residents have been altered by extreme weather. Bittle’s interviews with these residents bring the human impact of climate change to the forefront through vivid pictures of the aftermath of climate disasters.
Too often, it is the poor and marginalized who are most affected, and who do not receive enough help from the US’s disaster relief systems. A main part of Bittle’s argument is advocating for policies to address the lack of affordable housing to ensure that everyone has access to housing, before and after disasters. When climate disasters displace people from their homes, forcing them to seek alternative housing, affordable housing options become crucial.
One of the affected communities Bittle spotlights is Lincoln City, a historically Black neighborhood in Kinston, North Carolina on the Neuse River. Bittle describes the yearslong, convoluted recovery process residents of Lincoln City experienced after flooding from two hurricanes (Fran in 1996 and Floyd in 1999). But he doesn’t just explain the aftermath of a climate disaster, he gives a historical background to contextualize how Lincoln City became so vulnerable.
The needs of the river community have been historically neglected. In the 1980s, the US Army Corps of Engineers abandoned a plan to build a dam that would have protected Kinston; “The most vulnerable land there was also the least valuable: thanks to decades of discriminatory housing practices, the flood-prone territory near the Neuse [River] was where most of Kinston’s black population resided.”
After Hurricane Floyd, FEMA’s primary natural disaster relief policy was an option for home buy-outs. More than 97% of the floodplain households accepted the buy-out offer and 90% of families relocated within Kinston. The local government declared it a success. The numbers make it seem that way: The city prevented millions of dollars in future flood damage. The relocation led to an increase in property tax revenue because the residents’ new homes were worth more than their old ones.
Those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Despite Lincoln City residents having accepted the buy-out, Bittle explains that more than 1/3 did not feel like the buy-out was voluntary, and only 20% recalled being given other options. The alternative choices included “get nothing” or “sue the city.” Many families who took the buy-out already owned their homes in Lincoln City outright, but the buy-out money wasn’t enough to purchase a new house elsewhere upfront. That meant families had to take out new mortgages while trying to keep up with higher property taxes and increased utility bills. In the years that followed, a disturbing trend emerged: many of the households that took the buy-out would end up in foreclosure.
Bittle is a gifted writer who capably explains the nuances of the climate crisis and its effect on people. But more importantly, Bittle is a compassionate writer. Amidst the economic, scientific, and political complexities, he unfailingly looks for the human experience. The Great Displacement is a timely book on the climate change-induced mass migration that has already begun and that will fundamentally rock our society. Beyond Greenville and Kinston, Bittle also tells us the stories of the floods in Big Pine Key, Florida, the wildfires in Santa Rosa, California, and the hurricanes in Point-Au-Chien, Louisiana. The havoc that climate change has already wrecked on our nation is frightening. The consequences it will have for the future are daunting. Despite this, Bittle ends his book on a hopeful note, one that calls upon us to recognize our duty: “The world is already being remade, but its future shape is far from set in stone.”