IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v165y2021i1d10.1007_s10584-021-03026-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Will I have to move because of climate change? Perceived likelihood of weather- or climate-related relocation among the US public

Author

Listed:
  • Byungdoo Kim

    (Cornell University)

  • David L. Kay

    (Cornell University)

  • Jonathon P. Schuldt

    (Cornell University)

Abstract

As threats from climate change increase across the world, climate-induced migration is receiving more attention, particularly as it affects people in the Global South. However, despite increasing extreme weather events in nations including the United States, limited research has examined public perceptions of the personal likelihood of migration among members of wealthy industrialized countries. We asked a national probability sample of 1,000 U.S. adults about the likelihood that they would have to relocate in the next ten years because of weather or climate-related issues. We found that a majority of respondents (57.0%) reported that these would have a “moderate” or greater influence on their decision to move in the coming decade. Logistic regression analysis with demographic (race, gender, socioeconomic status, and political party affiliation) and geographic indicators (regional division and coastal proximity) revealed that Democrats and people with higher education were more likely to indicate that weather or climate-related issues would factor into their decision to relocate. Implications for climate change migration and public opinion research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Byungdoo Kim & David L. Kay & Jonathon P. Schuldt, 2021. "Will I have to move because of climate change? Perceived likelihood of weather- or climate-related relocation among the US public," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-8, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:165:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-021-03026-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03026-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-021-03026-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-021-03026-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James N. Druckman, 2015. "Eliminating the local warming effect," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(3), pages 176-177, March.
    2. Charles S. Taber & Milton Lodge, 2006. "Motivated Skepticism in the Evaluation of Political Beliefs," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(3), pages 755-769, July.
    3. James N. Druckman & Mary C. McGrath, 2019. "The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(2), pages 111-119, February.
    4. Stuart Capstick & Lorraine Whitmarsh & Wouter Poortinga & Nick Pidgeon & Paul Upham, 2015. "International trends in public perceptions of climate change over the past quarter century," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(1), pages 35-61, January.
    5. Peter D. Howe & Matto Mildenberger & Jennifer R. Marlon & Anthony Leiserowitz, 2015. "Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales in the USA," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(6), pages 596-603, June.
    6. Lawrence Hamilton, 2011. "Education, politics and opinions about climate change evidence for interaction effects," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 104(2), pages 231-242, January.
    7. Julie Maldonado & Christine Shearer & Robin Bronen & Kristina Peterson & Heather Lazrus, 2013. "The impact of climate change on tribal communities in the US: displacement, relocation, and human rights," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 601-614, October.
    8. Toby Bolsen & Justin Kingsland & Risa Palm, 2018. "The impact of frames highlighting coastal flooding in the USA on climate change beliefs," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 359-368, March.
    9. Stuart Capstick & Lorraine Whitmarsh & Wouter Poortinga & Nick Pidgeon & Paul Upham, 2015. "International trends in public perceptions of climate change over the past quarter century," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(4), pages 435-435, July.
    10. Ning Lin & Kerry Emanuel & Michael Oppenheimer & Erik Vanmarcke, 2012. "Physically based assessment of hurricane surge threat under climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(6), pages 462-467, June.
    11. Qin Fan & Karen Fisher-Vanden & H. Allen Klaiber, 2018. "Climate Change, Migration, and Regional Economic Impacts in the United States," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(3), pages 643-671.
    12. Mathew E. Hauer, 2017. "Migration induced by sea-level rise could reshape the US population landscape," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(5), pages 321-325, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matias Spektor & Guilherme N. Fasolin & Juliana Camargo, 2023. "Climate change beliefs and their correlates in Latin America," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Andrew G. Meyer, 2022. "Do economic conditions affect climate change beliefs and support for climate action? Evidence from the US in the wake of the Great Recession," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 64-86, January.
    3. Cafferata, Alessia & Dávila-Fernández, Marwil J. & Sordi, Serena, 2021. "Seeing what can(not) be seen: Confirmation bias, employment dynamics and climate change," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 567-586.
    4. Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández & Serena Sordi & Alessia Cafferata, 2024. "How do you feel about going green? Modelling environmental sentiments in a growing open economy," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 19(4), pages 649-687, October.
    5. Cha, Min-kyeong & Struthers, Cory L. & Brown, Marilyn A. & Kale, Snehal & Chapman, Oliver, 2024. "Toward residential decarbonization: Analyzing social-psychological drivers of household co-adoption of rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and efficient HVAC systems in Georgia, U.S," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    6. Allison Ford & Kari Marie Norgaard, 2020. "Whose everyday climate cultures? Environmental subjectivities and invisibility in climate change discourse," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 43-62, November.
    7. Joseph P. Reser & Graham L. Bradley, 2020. "The nature, significance, and influence of perceived personal experience of climate change," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(5), September.
    8. Iwowari Beatrice Dute, 2020. "The Influence of Cross-Cultural Language and Background on Climate Change Perception – An Empirical Investigation," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 7(9), pages 50-55, September.
    9. Jacob Dice & Mallick Hossain & David Rodziewicz, 2024. "Flood Risk Exposures and Mortgage-Backed Security Asset Performance and Risk Sharing," Research Working Paper RWP 24-05, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    10. Sam Crawley & Hilde Coffé & Ralph Chapman, 2022. "Climate Belief and Issue Salience: Comparing Two Dimensions of Public Opinion on Climate Change in the EU," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 307-325, July.
    11. Baiardi, Donatella & Morana, Claudio, 2021. "Climate change awareness: Empirical evidence for the European Union," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    12. Lawrence C. Hamilton, 2016. "Public Awareness of the Scientific Consensus on Climate," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(4), pages 21582440166, November.
    13. D. Liliana González-Hernández & Raúl A. Aguirre-Gamboa & Erik W. Meijles, 2023. "The role of climate change perceptions and sociodemographics on reported mitigation efforts and performance among households in northeastern Mexico," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1853-1875, February.
    14. Megan Ayers & Jennifer R. Marlon & Matthew T. Ballew & Edward W. Maibach & Seth A. Rosenthal & Connie Roser-Renouf & Anthony Leiserowitz, 2024. "Changes in Global Warming’s Six Americas: an analysis of repeat respondents," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(6), pages 1-21, June.
    15. Umar, Shayan & Waqas, Adeel & Tanveer, Waqas & Shahzad, Nadia & Janjua, Abdul Kashif & Dehghan, Maziar & Qureshi, Muhammad Salik & Shakir, Sehar, 2023. "A building integrated solar PV surface-cleaning setup to optimize the electricity output of PV modules in a polluted atmosphere," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    16. Hoffmann, Stefan & Lasarov, Wassili & Reimers, Hanna, 2022. "Carbon footprint tracking apps. What drives consumers' adoption intention?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Jessica E. Hughes & James D. Sauer & Aaron Drummond & Laura E. Brumby & Matthew A. Palmer, 2023. "Endorsement of scientific inquiry promotes better evaluation of climate policy evidence," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(6), pages 1-20, June.
    18. Kevin Grecksch & Carola Klöck, 0. "Access and allocation in climate change adaptation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    19. Hein, Walter & Wilson, Clevo & Lee, Boon & Rajapaksa, Darshana & de Moel, Hans & Athukorala, Wasantha & Managi, Shunsuke, 2019. "Climate change and natural disasters: Government mitigation activities and public property demand response," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 436-443.
    20. Toby Bolsen & James N. Druckman & Fay Lomax Cook, 2015. "Citizens’, Scientists’, and Policy Advisors’ Beliefs about Global Warming," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 658(1), pages 271-295, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:165:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-021-03026-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.