Florida may be an abandoned city one day, according to the Armchair Urbanist.
Unfortunately, it’s true that we are already living through the effects of climate change. The world is becoming hotter, wetter, and storms are becoming more intense. And while the next decades certainly aren’t yet foretold — there are plenty of drastic actions world governments can take to avoid the worst of climate change — there are places that will probably be better off as the planet warms.
As some activists have stated, doing what we can to make a difference will go a long way, and we need to make some active and quick changes to how we live. But the activists also warn that the trajectory of issues related to climate change is already happening. They’re sounding the alarm that the weather is going to get hotter and access to water—particularly freshwater—isn’t going to be easy.
This is why some states across the country might be better suited to ride out climate change. As Digg reports, it’s possible that humans are going to have to start worrying about where we live and what protections a particular state can give when climate change gets really scary. “California is an unbreathable hellscape and Florida is a hurricane alley. Where can we escape to avoid the most extreme conditions driven by climate change?” they ask.
The answer is Ohio—that’s where we want to go.
Alan Fisher, who runs the YouTube series The Armchair Urbanist, makes a compelling argument that highly populated cities, especially ones in the sun belt like Florida, Arizona, and Texas, won’t likely be where we want to end up.
Instead, the states in the rust belt, like Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio will be better to ride out climate change. As Alan explains, the states in the rust belt are “after their prime” which means they’re far past the industrial revolution. They’re also located in prime places with lots of access to railroads and freshwater — these features were key to why they were industrialized first.
With that, those states, including Ohio, will have far cooler weather being close to the freshwater lakes and rivers. Pairing that with the fact the state has the Appalachian Mountains, which helps to keep the temperatures lower, in addition to being more north, it’s going to have more advantages than a state like Florida.
Of course, these are just predictions. But still, it’s important to think about because even if they seem like small reasons now. Maybe they will become big ones down the road.
