Humans are, for better or worse, versatile. We’ve colonized a remarkable diversity of habitat, establishing ourselves in the poles, the tropics and nearly everywhere in between. Still, there are environments and conditions we just can’t adapt to (at least at scale), and their share of the planet’s surface is growing thanks to the onslaught of climate change.
The result, scientists warn, will be expanding patches of uninhabitability. Barring some drastic changes, warming in the near future will evict many from the places they call home.
Estimates vary widely for how many people will be displaced as global temperatures climb. Due to the layered uncertainties surrounding climate change — like whether humans will curb emissions and how migration trends will evolve — there is no authoritative guess. Some experts predict tens of millions of refugees; some hundreds of millions, or even billions.
One recent and especially dire study projects that if ...
