Climate Gentrification: The Rich Can Afford to Move — What About the Poor?

Only half-jokingly, some residents of a progressive city 300 miles north of the Mexican border have adopted the “build the wall” slogan in the face of a wave of newcomers. But these perceived interlopers are starkly different from Donald Trump’s imagination.

A pedestrian uses an umbrella to get some relief from
the sun as she walks past a sign displaying the
temperature on June 20, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. 

They are American, mainly white and are fleeing the unlivable heat.

Arizona’s vast sweep of landscapes stretches from the scorched western movie backdrop of the Sonoran desert in the south, past rusty red sandstone outcrops further north in Sedona until you ascend to Flagstaff, a pleasant city carved into the largest expanse of ponderosa pine trees in the world, at an elevation of 7,000ft.

Flagstaff, population 70,000, has long been a destination for people in southern Arizona looking for a cooling respite in summer or a spot of skiing on the nearby San Francisco Peaks in winter.

Read the story from The Guardian by Oliver Milman - “Climate Gentrification: The Rich Can Afford to Move — What About the Poor?”