Climate journalist Lindsey Smith has reached an agreement with the University of California Press to cover managed retreat in a narrative nonfiction book entitled Leaving for Good: The Heartbreak and Hope of Climate Retreat in California. Pairing rigorous reporting with personal essay, Smith will describe how climate change is battering her home state of California and how managed retreat—the coordinated movement of people and infrastructure away from potential threats—will be required to address this challenge. Featuring wildfire survivors, beachfront homeowners, state senators, low-income renters, urban planners, climate scientists, psychologists, and others grappling with this controversial policy strategy, the book will weave in Smith’s own emotional journey as it explores how the places we love give our lives meaning and shape our identities, and how we will respond when the climate crisis takes those places from us.
