A day after Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina in late September 2024, Toni Brewer had no power or water. The storm had strewn fallen trees across most roads, wiped out phone and internet communications, and put some neighborhoods near her Asheville home underwater. Brewer cleared out the food in her refrigerator, grabbed some clothes, and drove more than an hour southwest…
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Just decades from now, millions of people all over the world will be forced to move because of climate change. In his new book, Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration, acclaimed journalist and migration researcher Julian Hattem reports from the front lines of the environmental apocalypse, taking readers on a journey from the South Pacific to the Indian subcontinent, to the Mediterranean. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Hattem about his new book and about the massive human displacement that is already being caused by climate change today.
This podcast was recorded on April 4, 2026, at “End Papers: A mini-book fest on capitalism and the climate crisis,”hosted by Red Emma’s Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Baltimore, Maryland.
Guests:
Julian Hattem is 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. He has been on staff with the Associated Press and The Hill, and written for outlets including the Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, and The Atlantic. The author of Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration (The New Press), he lives in Washington, DC.
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome back to The Real News Network. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. Just 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
Tucson, Arizona — Deadly heat waves have become the summertime norm in Arizona and much of the Southwest in recent years. But this year, those heat waves are coming months before the height of summer. As an atmospheric “heat dome” planted itself over much of the U.S. West, temperatures outside Phoenix reached 101 degrees on the first day of spring, making Arizona the hottest place on Earth.
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Dozens of U.S. states, alongside city and county governments, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), seeking to block the agency from rescinding a rule that allows regulation of greenhouse gases. The Endangerment Finding, established in 2009, recognizes carbon dioxide and other pollutants as threats to both public health and the welfare…
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As the Northeast United States contends with the aftermath of a historic bomb cyclone blizzard that blanketed the region, we speak to climate scientist Michael Mann about the causes and effects of increasingly intense weather events. “We expect to see that increase as long as we continue to warm up the planet by burning fossil fuels and putting carbon pollution into the atmosphere,” says Mann.
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