After the UK's Hottest Summer on Record, Some Are Moving to Scotland
Mike Coe never expected to leave his dream home in rural Worcestershire, not far from Stratford-upon-Avon. Friends still living further south described this summer to the couple as 'unbelievably hot' and 'incredibly uncomfortable' — a summer in which the United Kingdom recorded its hottest on record, with five successive heat waves and widespread drought.
Relocation is already happening further north: last year Chinnery and Lewis moved to Westray, one of the Orkney Islands off northern Scotland, largely because of rising temperatures. Sorensen, who spoke to NPR, framed the logic of the search bluntly — between now and 2100, only a few places could be categorized as 'best of the worst' oases if things really go to hell.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The 'best of the worst' framing is bracing precisely because it treats adaptation as triage rather than redemption. Nobody in that sentence is selling anyone a paradise; they are ranking what remains survivable.
Most of this does not look like grand climate strategy, though. Moving largely because of rising temperatures is a practical decision about comfort and risk, not an ideology.
Fair, but the loss is real too. Giving up a house you had described to yourself as a dream home is the part of adaptation that never fits neatly on a ranking of oases.