Seattle Think & Drink: The Californians are Coming; Climate Migration & the Pacific NW – Aug 23

In 2030, will Washington try to build a border wall and make California pay for it?

Refugees, immigration, terrorism, and open borders have become heated topics in the national conversation. But if current trends, like California’s drought, continue, that discussion may soon get even more urgent—and perhaps a lot uglier, even in the polite Pacific Northwest.

History shows that climate change leads to massive movements of people, and we’ve now entered what might be the fastest period of climate change in earth’s history. How will it affect the human populations of North America? Who will move where? How will it affect human rights? And is the Northwest really the relatively safe haven it’s commonly thought to be?

Join Lara Whitely Binder of the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, and Jeni Krencicki Barcelos, co-founder of the Three Degrees Project at the UW School of Law. Moderated by KUOW environmental reporter Ashley Ahearn.