The Jersey Shore was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, and remains under threat from storms, erosion, and rising sea levels. Despite the overwhelming odds, people repair and rebuild their homes on this precarious land using a rudimentary elevation system. Houseraising is a typology of these strange structures, and a harbinger of our increasingly urgent battle with the forces of nature we have unwittingly unleashed.

Ira Wagner has been an Adjunct Professor of Photography at Monmouth University since 2013 when he received an MFA from the University of Hartford.

George Marshall is the co-founder and Director of Projects of Climate Outreach and author of Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change (2014).