A few weeks back, I scheduled a conversation with Abram Lustgarten, a reporter with ProPublica.

I wanted to talk to him about his reporting on climate migration, when climate change forces people to move, how many leave their homes, and where they go.

Through his reporting, Abram is deeply familiar with the topic, but his experience

doesn't end there. He lives in the Bay Area of California, and the day before we were supposed to

speak, he and his family had to flee the wildfires closing in on the city. We had to reschedule.

When I finally got him on the phone, I wondered if his work on climate change affects the way

he views the blazes in his state.

Have you thought about moving?

I mean, you're there in the middle of a wildfire.

Have you thought about living elsewhere?

Yeah.

You know, I have to confess, I think, about it every day.

And as we're sort of burning here in the burning season, you know, I have to confess, I think, about it every day. And as we're

sort of burning here in the burning season, every fall, that question becomes more and more

important. You go back, you know, to the beginning of time and you see that environment has

driven the movement of populations. So there's research

connecting, you know, the earliest migrations out of Africa towards Europe to a drying trend and a drought

in the south and progression along kind of a green belt that led people north. The drought that

ultimately decimated the Mayan civilization in Central America is another

great example. And there's research that suggests that the Mayan people tried to adapt and migrate

away, basically outrun the environmental change that was happening there, but failed. But the scale

of what we are headed for is unlike anything that has ever happened in the past.

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