On the Move

The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America

By: Abrahm Lustgarten

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"On the Move explains how we got here and where we're headed. It's crucial guide to the world we are creating."―Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction

A vivid, journalistic account of how climate change will make American life as we know it unfeasible.

Humanity is on the precipice of a great climate migration, and Americans will not be spared. Tens of millions of people are likely to be driven from the places they call home. Poorer communities will be left behind, while growth will surge in the cities and regions most attractive to climate refugees. America will be changed utterly.

Abrahm Lustgarten’s On the Move is the definitive account of what this massive population shift might look like. As he shows, the United States will be rendered unrecognizable by four unstoppable forces: wildfires in the West; frequent flooding in coastal regions; extreme heat and humidity in the South; and droughts that will make farming all but impossible across much of the nation.

Reporting from the front lines of climate migration, Lustgarten explains how a pattern of shortsighted policies encouraged millions to settle in vulnerable parts of the country, and introduces us to homeowners in California, insurance customers in Florida, and ranchers in Colorado who are being forced to make the agonizing choice of when, not whether, to leave. Employing the most current climate data and predictive models, he shows how America’s population will be squeezed northward into a shrinking triangle of land stretching from Tennessee to Maine to the Great Lakes. The places many of us now call home are at risk, and On the Move reveals how we’ll deal with the consequences.

©2024 Abrahm Lustgarten. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“At the beginning of Abrahm Lustgarten's futuristic look at climate change, narrator Patrick Lawlor depicts the fear in the voice of a woman who wants to leave California because of its worsening wildfires.… Lawlor's clear delivery emphasizes Lustgarten's urgent message to listeners to consider issues of property insurance and urban heat islands now. As Lawlor captures Lustgarten's argument, the author considers present-day life in Guatemala and Detroit, and discusses how Americans have reacted to recent climate crises, such as the New Orleans' floods.”—AudioFile Magazine

“An urgent examination of how the U.S. will be affected by migrations driven by global warming . . . a nuanced account of how myriad factors intertwine to fuel migration . . . [with] poignant portraits . . . Readers will be unnerved.”—Publishers Weekly

"[A] fascinating new look at the population changes wrought by climate crisis . . . What consistently enlivens the book are the author’s eloquent personal insights. His visits to Guatemala, especially, are astonishing as well as gripping . . . This book should fill readers’ minds with possibilities."—Jon Gertner, The New York Times Book Review

Solid addition to Climate Change Library

I purchased this book based on Mr. Lustgarten's interview on NPR. This is the sixth book I have read on Climate Change, so I will focus on what he adds to the ongoing conversation. I live in an area increasingly affected by heat and drought, and I did not explicitly connect this to my homeowner's insurance until I listened to this book. First, Mr. Lustgarten gives an excellent and clear explanation of the dangers posed by Climate Change and government subsidized home insurance programs which encourage people to continue to live in areas that are or will become untenable. Second, the book explores a very important question: Should YOU relocate because of climate change? This is a difficult question to confront and this book offers a provocative exploration of migration to and within the United States. Third, the section on Guatemala is very compelling in outlining and personalizing some of the underlying push forces that impact migration and are already being felt on US borders.

Many Climate Change books can be depressingly bleak, but this book has made me consider my own migration seriously!

Good book, recommend reading/listening

The reader should learn how to pronounce Spanish words and names. Otherwise he did a good job and I like the book

Want to understand our “new future”? Read this book

This is an excellent book from an excellent reporter who I’ve been reading for years. Abrahm Lustgarten doesn’t masterful job of telling the story of our recent history in extreme weather, and what it pretends for the future. He tells the story, which is devastating really. In a way that’s accessible and also digestible, and you always learn something from Mr. Lustgarten. Thank you for this great book.

Terrifying info/good book!

The book and performance are great. The content is serious and a bit (a lot) depressing and alarming as it should be. Good luck to us all and let’s hope people in charge make good choices!

Grimly satisfying

The book lays bare all of the assumptions I have been making about the viability of the southern desert climates. It punctures my remaining hope that more atmospheric energy might mean more rain to come. It won’t be enough. Having added enough solar panels to power my home and switched from conventional HVAC to heat pumps for AC and heat. We’ll still have to move (eventually). Read it and weep.

Narrow View of The Future

The author has an encyclopedic knowledge of the potential affect of climate change on human migration. He projects this into the future for nearly a hundred years. What he fails to do is to take into account are the expected affects of science and technology in the same period that might modify his projections drasticly. Examples are nontraditional agriculture, the potential breakthroughs in energy production such as clean fusion, the impact of advanced AI and birthrate changes. This static view of the future all but invalidates his entire book.