"A majority support outright bans on construction in disaster-prone areas, as well as paying people to move, researchers say — policies that local governments have been reluctant to adopt."
"WASHINGTON — Americans support far more aggressive government regulation to fight the effects of climate change than elected officials have been willing to pursue so far, new research shows, including outright bans on building in flood- or fire-prone areas — a level of restrictiveness almost unheard-of in the United States.
The findings suggest that the public’s appetite for government action to prepare for global warming is shifting as natural disasters worsen.
Eighty-four percent of respondents, including 73 percent of Republicans, supported mandatory building codes in risky areas, and 57 percent supported making it illegal to build in those areas. More than half of respondents favored paying people to move, including three-quarters of Democrats."
Christopher Flavelle reports for the New York Times September 4, 2020.
