Shelter from the Storm - by Julian Hattem (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An urgent wake-up call about the coming large-scale human displacement caused by climate change, from one of the world's leading experts

Mere decades from now, millions of people all over the world will be forced to move because of climate change. Entire islands will disappear into the sea. Once-in-a-century hurricanes will occur on a regular basis, decimating cities and wiping out peoples' homes. Wildfires fed by prolonged drought will rage through communities. No one will be immune: in countries rich and poor, climate change will usher in a new era of migration.

In Shelter from the Storm noted journalist and migration researcher Julian Hattem tells the story of the massive human displacement that is already being caused by climate change. With hard-hitting journalism from the front lines of the environmental apocalypse, Hattem takes the reader on a journey from the South Pacific to the Indian subcontinent, the Mediterranean, and beyond, offering a shocking glimpse into the human geography wrecked by a warming planet.

Shelter from the Storm also provides rich historical perspective on how climate has impacted migration and a primer on cutting-edge climatological research, creating a multidimensional portrait of this uncertain new age. A work of profound expertise and storytelling, Shelter from the Storm gives a human face to the millions of climate migrants who are leaving their homes--and the millions more who will follow.

Review Quotes

"Shelter From the Storm presents a harrowing and urgent tale about what is at stake in the global attack on climate science and disregard for environmental protections. Everyone--including the rich urban elite--is being impacted in various ways as ecological systems collapse and weather catastrophes unfold."
--Eve Darian-Smith author of Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis

"The climate crisis is a challenge to the very idea of 'home' as this book makes powerfully clear. We need to slow the rise in temperature and we need to lower the temperature around the idea of migration--both of those are simply realities of our time."
--Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun

"This timely book is a must-read for everyone concerned with climate change and migration. Packed with well-chosen examples, facts and clear arguments, it throws much-needed light on the vital question of who will migrate and why as humanity experiences more extreme weather and ocean rise."
--Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development, Oxford University, and author of The Shortest History of Migration

"Julian Hattem's forceful and vivid Shelter from the Storm provides a sweeping yet accessible look at the coming global movement that is largely the result of human-caused climate change. He also makes a powerful argument for a fundamental rethink of migration and its role in society, one that is only going to become more urgent as governments dawdle on cutting their carbon emissions. It's a welcome addition to a growing canon of books about what is perhaps the most fundamental problem of our era."
--Jake Bittle, author of The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration

"With masterful storytelling and insightful explanations, this brilliantly researched book takes us on a journey around the world to reveal what is happening to us: we are already a climate migrant, will most likely become one, or are already living amidst a migration. This book is mandatory reading for those wanting to understand our climate disrupted world more deeply. Hattem's outstanding work grows more prescient by the day."
--Dahr Jamail, author of The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption

"In Shelter from the Storm, Julian Hattem cuts through prevailing rhetoric and assumptions and offers a completely new way to think about climate migration. The book takes us on a dazzling journey around the world to glimpse the complex interplay of factors at play, and into the lives of individuals struggling against insuperable odds to survive and make a better life for themselves and their children in the face of a global order rigged against them."
--Aviva Chomsky, author of Is Science Enough?: Forty Critical Questions About Climate Justice

"Julian Hattem is superbly well-equipped to tell the story of one of the defining issues of our age, and Shelter from the Storm does not disappoint. Through a careful dissection of often wildly sensationalist claims, he provides the nuance this topic so desperately needs. Buy this book."
--Peter Schwartzstein, author of The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence

"In Shelter from the Storm, Julian Hattem takes a hatchet to the conspiracy theories, myths, and falsehoods surrounding debates over the climate catastrophe and global displacement. With a long eye for history and an unflinching dissection of the present, this book sounds the alarm on a grim future that has already begun."
--Patrick Strickland, author of You Can Kill Each Other After I Leave: Refugees, Fascism, and Bloodshed in Greece

About the Author

Julian Hattem has been a journalist, writer, and editor focused on politics, government, and migration for more than fifteen years. He has been on staff with the Associated Press, The Hill, and The Yomiuri Shimbun, and has written for outlets including The Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, and The Atlantic. He has reported from four continents and is currently the editor of Migration Information Source, the online magazine of the Migration Policy Institute, and founder and host of the podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration. Shelter from the Storm (The New Press) is his first book. He lives in Washington, DC.