Madeleine Arena a High school Student from North Carolina and interested in studying Environmental Policy holds a sign reading “Girls just want to have funding for the EPA,” in front of the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. during the March for Science in April 22, 2017.

Ocean waves crash over the sea wall onto homes during winter storm Grayson on January 4, 2018 in Hull; Massachusetts.

Daniel King from Orlando Florida waves an American flag with a picture of the world in front of the Washington Monument during the March for Science in April 22, 2017.

A girl reads her book by a raised cottage on Peggotty Beach in Scituate, on the south shore of Massachusetts. Where there were once more than 50 cottages, the number has dwindled to a dozen as storms have eroded the beach and forced homeowners to vacate the area. Those houses that remain have been moved onto stilts.

Homes along Salisbury beach in Massachusetts and neighboring Hampton Beach in New Hampshire face the Atlantic Ocean and are backed by miles of marsh. As sea level rise elevates the water table, flooding can come from the marsh instead of the ocean.

Chairs are strewn about the outside of a severely damaged home in Scituate; Massachusetts following the 2015 winter storm Juno that flooded dozens of homes, destroyed streets and power lines and even pulled buildings into the sea. But with all of the loss and damage, people continue to rebuild—some homes in the town have been damaged and rebuilt more than 10 times with funding from the federal government and community tax money.

Worry is evident on the faces of homeowners in Scituate; Massachusetts as they discuss the newly revised Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps, which place more and sometimes unexpected homes at risk of flooding. According to the National Flood Insurance Program, a federal program managed by FEMA, floods are the number one natural disaster in America and in 2015 the national average policy premium was nearly $700 a month. That year, Massachusetts ranked among the top 10 states to receive the highest claims from the program —a total of $9,736,052.

Mario Diaz brings in new floors into a residence home in Plum Island; Massachusetts. The home was destroyed in a previous winter storm and new homeowners are re-building in the same location in the summer of 2016.

Steve Makein, production welder, works on a new building in South Boston on Monday June 6, 2016. Even with the risks or flooding developers are still building in the Sea Port District and the South End.

A line of cement trucks waits to unload at the construction site of the Portside at East Pier housing development in East Boston on Thursday June 9, 2016. New buildings have regulations that take into account climate change.

Construction workers rebuild the damaged seawall along the rocky coastline on Egypt Beach in Scituate; Massachusetts in 2016. The crew is upgrading the original seawall, which was built in the 1930s, increasing its height and strength with additional steel support and rocks.

A boat cruses down one of the rivers cutting through a salt marsh on Cape Cod in the summer of 2016. Some organizations and developers are restoring watersheds and are taking it into new construction designs by building farther off the ocean leaving what is called a “living shoreline” with tide pools and salt marshes that will act as a buffer zone for sea level rise and storm surges.

In Duxbury; Massachusetts the marsh is flooded during the highest tide of the year called King Tides. Sea level rise will make King Tides even higher.

Jim Simas walks up the stairs onto the top level of his new summer home, still under construction on Plum Island; Massachusetts in the summer of 2016. The home sits on pilings reaching 20 feet tall. “If its still here, I am hoping to retire and live here year round in 20 years.”

A mother and son explore the remains of a waterfront building, which was destroyed by an ocean storm on Plum Island; Massachusetts in 2016.

The breakfast rush at Mad Martha’s Cafe on Plum Island; Massachusetts is crowded and popular. The restaurant is one of several local businesses built on a fragile ecosystem of sands that are constantly shifting. It is at risk of flooding and damage from rising sea levels and intensifying storm surges.

Scituate resident Devon Barrie and her son Kailub Sullivan live along the beach near Oceanside Drive in Scituate with the new town seawall under construction. Sullivan likes to imitate the working crew with a toy dump truck, moving dirt from one side of the yard to the other. “Last winter, waves were crashing on the second story of that house,” says Scituate resident Devon Barrie as she points across the street to one of her neighbors. “But we just buckle down and ride it out. I know that the sea levels are rising and in 20, 50, 100 years, who knows if this will be here anymore. But given the chance to live here now, there’s nothing like it,” Barrie said.

Residents of East Boston, an at-risk community to sea level rise, cross the street on a summer day in 2016.

Kevin Richardson from Hull runs out of the way of a wave breaching the sea wall on Ocean Ave in Hull on January 24, 2017.

On Thursday June 9, 2016 community organizer Magdalena Ayed, a resident in East Boston looks out over her neighborhood that is at risk of flooding from the effects of climate change. She says she’s happy that city officials and some developers are starting to take climate change seriously.

Yards and roads are flooded with ocean water during winter storm Grayson on January 4, 2018 in Hull; Massachusetts.

On January 6, 2018, Dave Armstrong, left and Samuel Banas, right, Hydrologic Technicians for the United States Geologic Survey, measures the waterline on a home in Hull, Mass from winter storm Grayson which hit on January 4th, 2018. They are collecting data throughout New England to compare with the 1978 storm.

Communities developed on barrier beaches such as Plum Island, on the north shore of Massachusetts, are particularly vulnerable to coastal erosion and major flooding from storm surges and will continue to face the challenges of climate change. “Don’t build here if you’re afraid of losing your house,” says longtime resident Verne Fisher.