Last month I visited Providence, Rhode Island, getting to know the city. I plan to establish a summer home here next spring. I’ll keep my permanent residence in Austin, but I’ve had it with Texas summers.
I’m a climate crisis refugee. I was born and raised in Texas, and I’ve always been glad of my heat tolerance. I’m comfortable up to 95 degrees. But now we have two months of the year when the mercury shoots up past 100. I’m tired of hearing weather casters tell me not to go outside in the afternoon.
I’m not the first climate migrant. People fleeing drought and flood have been on the move for a generation. It’s global, but it has been mostly a third world movement. Now the first world is beginning to feel it.
It’s possible to ignore the rising heat if you live in air conditioned spaces. But you have to be content to give up summer afternoons. I’m not.
Ironically, that air conditioning that shelters us from the heat outside makes the heat outside worse. The air conditioners use power from plants that exhaust greenhouse gases. And the air conditioners themselves pump heat out to the air. It’s a positive feedback loop. The hotter the environment, the more we use the air conditioner. The more we use the air conditioner, the hotter the environment.
I’m moving away from that loop. Of course, there’s no real escape. There’s another effect. Providence is in the hurricane zone. And with the climate crisis, hurricanes are growing stronger and more numerous.
I took a riverboat tour on the Providence River. The captain told tales of hurricanes past, and he pointed to a gated flood barrier high enough to keep out the flood surge of the worst hurricane on record. But the storms are growing stronger. It’s only a matter of time until a storm surge overwhelms that sea wall. And then another. Then there will be a new wave of climate migrants. More people on the move.
But for now, Providence is a great little city.
(Photos by Robin Cravey unless otherwise noted).
Feature image above: Downtown Providence. Photo by Jeffee Palmer. The city seen from the river.
Venda Bar & Ristorante on Atwells St. in Federal Hill. The broad plaza next to the historic Italian eatery serves as an open-air meeting place and hangout. Their martinis are outstanding. Stretching away in either direction are blocks of old storefronts offering bars, restaurants, and Italian delis. 
Jeffee Palmer was my intrepid guide during the first part of my stay in Providence. She had never been there before, but she had a guidebook, and she knew how to use it. We had great adventures. Here we are dining outside on Atwells on a weekend night when the street is closed to cars. 
Martinis at Venda’s. Photo by Jeffee Palmer. The martinis are so big you can’t pick them up until you drink some out. They pack a wallop! 
Julian’s is a comfortable restaurant on Broadway that runs from breakfast to late night, serving up good food, drinks, and friendliness. 
Urban Greens is the food coop in Providence, with a modern store but about the size of the early Wheatsville location on 29th Street. 
George M. Cohan was a native of Providence, and they’re proud of their yankee doodle dandy. His statue stands in the heart of Fox Point. 
The Point Tavern takes its name from Fox Point, east and near the mouth of the Providence River. 
Fox Point Hurricane Barrier was built to protect the city from hurricane storm surge. It looks pretty high, but then the Galveston Seawall looked high until the hurricanes started running over it. The bridge lies beyond it. 
Trinity Brewhouse is one of several good pubs in downtown Providence. So many pubs, so little time!
RobinCravey 
I’m sure many of us Texans who become climate hermits, stuck in our air-conditioned boxes, would like to join you in a great climate migration. Soon it may be necessary, alas.
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