Where to live? How climate change is forcing us to rethink our relationship with our surroundings

Amid France’s summer heatwaves, one question dominated media coverage and conversation: “Should we move to escape the furnace?” Rankings based on temperatures and environmental risks such as flooding, coastal submersion and wildfires pointed to several places in western France as potential havens. Fougères and Brest in Brittany, Valognes in Normandy, have topped the list of cities that will remain “livable.”

Until recently, many people saw climate change as a distant threat. But in just a few months, it has become reality, bringing physical and psychological suffering, and a new kind of anxiety about the future: How can people get through the next summers in stifling homes, or in buildings whose walls are starting to crack? How will they find enough to eat when water is scarce and crops wither in the fields?

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