Human migration is nothing new, but the scale at which people will need to relocate due to climate change will be different than ever before. A World Bank report estimates that over the next thirty years, 143 million people will be displaced within three of the most vulnerable regions alone: sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. To handle such shifts in population, our governments and immigration systems will have to evolve. This challenge, and the stakes, are illustrated beautifully in the essay we’re featuring this week. “Like the Monarch,” written by New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman, explores the complex intersections between the climate crisis and human migration. It is read by actor, producer, director, and activist America Ferrera. 

Sarah Stillman’s essay, along with 40 other essays appear in the anthology co-edited by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson called All We can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis. To find out more about the book, each of the contributors, and the nonprofit they co-founded to carry forward the book’s mission, check out allwecansave.earth.

Guests: Sarah Stillman, America Ferrera

Calls to action: 

• Read more of Sarah Stillman’s writing, and check out her recent piece, When Climate Change and Xenophobia Collide 
• Pick up a copy of the book Ayana co-edited, now out in paperback: All We can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
• Learn more about the non-profit All We can Save Project

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.