Best State To Live In - Climate Change

Below is an article (opinion) on where to live during climate change. My personal pick would be #1 the big island of Hawaii (be prepared to live simply, it's expensive) followed by the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Vermont, Northern & Central New Hampshire, Western Montana (west of the divide), or the western cascade foothills of Oregon and Washington. Minnesota is a GREAT state but it is always one of the coldest in the winter - bitterly cold! Remember if the food stops getting trucked in you have to save a lot of stored food for the winter reserves.


Since climate change effects on local weather are unpredictable, you can’t predict which places will be winners and losers in a chaotic future either.

Global climate is a system too complex for us to say for sure what will happen in any one place. For example, before it disappears under rising seas, New York City could develop the hot, humid climate of Charleston. Or, if warming seas turn off the Gulf Stream, Manhattan could instead be buried under a glacier, as in the 2004 climate disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow. In climate chaos, all bets are off.

The only certainty is that most places will become more dangerous. So, the best chance of survival lies in becoming a permanent nomad, ready to move as climate conditions change.

School Bus Camper


The BEST (In the colder climes you will have to learn to store and preserve food)

*Hawaii (Big Island or Lanai) - Warm, stable  environment due to being surrounded by deep ocean, low unemployment, long growing season, fresh fruit, isolated, fishing
Vermont - Freedom, constitution, low gov't control
North Carolina (Appalachians) - Temperate, good growing season to the east, cool mountains
New Hampshire - Freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Maine - Freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Montana (Western) - Freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Washington (western) - Temperate (w of cascades), freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Wisconsin - Good seasonal growing, freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Oregon - Temperate (w of cascades), freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Minnesota - Freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Kentucky (Eastern) - Temperate, freedom, constitution, low gov't control
Tennessee (Eastern) - Temperate, freedom, constitution, low gov't control

Not so good
Alabama - Old south
Alaska - Very cold
Arkansas - Tornadoes
Colorado - Quickly turning into California
Connecticut - Semi-police state, over regulation, urban
Delaware - Too urban
Georgia - Old south
Idaho - White supremacy
Indiana - Nothing going for it
Iowa - Tornadoes
Kansas - Tornadoes
Michigan - Semi-police state, over regulation
Mississippi - Old south, religious extremism
Missouri - Old south
Nebraska - Tornadoes, desolate
Nevada - Drought, too hot
New Mexico - Drought, too hot
North Dakota - Too cold
Oklahoma - Tornadoes, corrupt police (like Texas)
Pennsylvania - Gov't control, regulation
Rhode Island - Police state, over regulation, urban
South Carolina - Old south
South Dakota - Too cold
Utah - Religion controlled
Virginia - Police state, over regulation, old south
West Virginia - Backward trailer trash
Wyoming - Desolate
Arizona - Drought, too hot

Stay out of West Virginia!


The WORST
Illinois - Corrupt police state, over regulation, tornadoes
Louisiana - Corrupt police state, hurricanes
Ohio - Police state, heavy handed police
Texas - Corrupt Police, megadrought, tornadoes
Florida - Corrupt Police state, over regulation, hurricanes
California - Police state, over regulation, too liberal, gangs, disasters, gun unfriendly
Maryland - Police state, over regulation, urban, gun unfriendly
Massachusetts - Police state, over regulation, too liberal, gun unfriendly
New York - Police state, over regulation, urban, gun unfriendly
New Jersey - Police state, over regulation, urban, extremely gun unfriendly


Here is what the winter lows usually look like. The Dakotas and Minnesota are BRUTAL!





Sun Mar 02, 2014 at 03:24 PM PST
Minnesota is the Most Livable State in Climate Change
By Grace kelly

What is the best state to live during all this climate change? I think it is Minnesota. I base this ranking on food, water and community. I base it on avoiding permanent flooding, tornadoes and toxicity. If you disagree, then you can make your case in the comments. I make my case after the fold.

Minnesota is the most liveable state during climate change. Now of course, all of this depends on what you value. Here are my criteria:
1) Food -The ability to grow food is important. While Minnesota will be impacted by storms, hail, drought and higher temperatures, it starts with so much more growing capacity that I think Minnesota will always be able to feed its own state. Food is so important that I gave it double weight in the ranking.
2) Water -Having enough water is essential for drinking, growing food and business. Minnesota is ranked 38th among the states. If Minnesota is careful with its water, it should have enough.
3)Avoid Permanent Flooding - The middle expectation for sea level rise is 3.3 feet. I ruled out any coastal state impacted by sea level rise. Even if only a portion of the state is affected, I expected the economic costs and social turmoil will impact the whole state. Hurricanes are also a risk for these same states.
4) Avoid Toxicity -Toxic Environmental conditions are difficult to evaluate. I did my ranking based on total environmental releases. However, Montana is affected by shale activities just north in Canada so this ranking may have put Montana too high in the scoring.
5) Avoid Tornadoes - Tornadoes have gotten so harsh in Tornado Alley, that I think it would be too dangerous to live in these areas.
6) Community - Some communities work together, plan ahead, and protect civil rights. I would never want to be a black person in Florida for example. I used the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index with a double weight.
Based on the above criteria, here are the top states, with Minnesota ranked number one.

Minnesota
Now after a winter that includes months of driving on glare ice, many people will challenge whether this is a good place to live. I prefer to think of our winters as keeping the riff-raff out. The winters keep pests down like ticks, mosquitoes and food pests. That is important. I would take a winter over much hotter summers.
Even though, Minnesota comes out on top, it still will be very hard to live through climate change. We will have to change to manage water better, adapt to different growing conditions. We will have actively adapt. More hail, flooding, drought, storms and extreme temperatures will challenge us. At the same time, the price of everything will go higher. We will have to learn to get by on much less.
The Abandon Coastal States Assumption
The assumption that I have made is that coastal states will no longer be the wonderful places to live that they previously were. I really don't expect people to stop living in these states. I do expect that living there will get more expensive. The climate issues will drag on the people and the community. Notice how even the US is taking longer and longer to come back from every disaster. One day we will just abandon areas.
More on how ranking were calculated
Normal Rankings were redone so 1 is good and 50 is bad. So the state with the most tornadoes, Oklahoma, changes from 1 to 50.
Some rankings have non-states in the rankings like District of Columbia. These were removed and the numbers adjusted.
Ruling out states affected by 3.3 feet of sea rise was done by giving 200 points to any state impacted by coastal flooding.
Two indices are double weighted, food and happiness.
I am using the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI) to reflect the quality of community. It is called the measure of happiness in the table. WBI is an average of six sub-indices: Life Evaluation, Physical Health, Emotional Health, Healthy Behavior, Work Environment and Basic Access.
Here is the whole table with calculations.

attribution: None Specified

A couple of states may be unfairly ranked. Alaska is ranked the worse, however it is the state that may change the most. From climate change, it could be that new crops will grow there.
Originally posted to [url=http://www.dailykos.com/blog/The Grace Kelly/]MN Progressive Project[/url] on Sun Mar 02, 2014 at 03:24 PM PST