I’m basically a climate refugee from Texas looking to settle somewhere in rural Washington or Oregon (“A West in flux,” September 2020). I recognize that Texas will likely be too hot to inhabit within my lifetime. So these trends are concerning to me because I already cannot afford any kind of reasonable acreage or homesite in all but the most remote places. If I have to compete with people with money moving out of cities, I’m truly gonna be screwed.

Ben Kessler,
via social media

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A West in flux

by Ben Kessler, High Country News
October 1, 2020

<h1>A West in flux</h1> <p class="byline">by Ben Kessler, High Country News <br />October 1, 2020</p> <p><span class="s1"></span><span class="s2">I’m basically a climate refugee from Texas looking to settle somewhere in rural Washington or Oregon (“<a href="https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52.9/infographic-where-people-are-migrating-in-and-out-of-the-west" target="_blank" data-linktype="external" data-val="https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52.9/infographic-where-people-are-migrating-in-and-out-of-the-west" rel="noopener">A West in flux</a>,” September 2020). I recognize that Texas will likely be too hot to inhabit within my lifetime. So these trends are concerning to me because I already cannot afford any kind of reasonable acreage or homesite in all but the most remote places. If I have to compete with people with money moving out of cities, I’m truly gonna be screwed. </span></p> <p><em><span class="s2">Ben Kessler, <br />via social media</span></em></p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=187789">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">A West in flux</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52-10/letter-to-the-editor-a-west-in-flux/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=120563&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52-10/letter-to-the-editor-a-west-in-flux/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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