climate refugee

American  

[klahy-mit ref-yoo-jee, ref-yoo-jee] / ˈklaɪ mɪt ˌrɛf yʊˈdʒi, ˈrɛf yʊˌdʒi /

noun

1. a person who has had to flee their home due to the negative effects of climate change.

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Etymology

Origin of climate refugee

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Kalmus also noted that becoming a climate refugee is not as easy as simply making a choice to move out of a suddenly-uninhabitable location.

From Salon

Recognising the existential threat facing these communities, in November close neighbour Australia offered climate refugee visas to Pacific Islanders.

From BBC

"People have created all sorts of ways to live in more challenging places that flood," Moon reflected to Salon when asked about the likelihood of mass climate refugee crises.

From Salon

His best friend, the nature writer Barry Lopez, died of prostate cancer that December, three months after a wildfire had burned parts of his home near the McKenzie River in Oregon, making him a climate refugee.

From New York Times

We meet our guide to this future when she is a 6-year-old climate refugee, and we follow her as she becomes an insurgent herself.

From Slate