A captivating story of environmental crisis and community on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Island environments are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of rapidly rising waters, accelerating ecological crisis. While we often think of this environmental reality in terms of the Global North and South, Alaska, or Micronesian or Indian nations, the devastating effects of a changing climate are also found on islands in the mid-Atlantic. In We Live in the Water , anthropologist Jana Kopelent Rehak sheds light on the profound impacts of a changing environment on the small coastal community of Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay. This fascinating ethnographic account of Smith Island residents examines the challenges faced by an aging community that is grappling with flooding, land erosion, and population loss. By combining socioecology, life course theory, and eco-phenomenology, Kopelent Rehak offers a comprehensive understanding of how people's engagement with their ever-changing environment shapes their ways of being. We Live in the Water offers a fresh perspective on the human dimensions of changing climate, inviting readers to witness the complex interactions between the environment and the island's collective identity. Through vivid narratives and firsthand accounts, Kopelent Rehak explores the islanders' deep connection to their land and how they reinvent their traditions over generations. By bridging the gap between ecological studies and environmental anthropology, Kopelent Rehak provides a compelling framework for understanding the impacts of environmental crises on local communities and emphasizes the importance of integrated research in shaping public discourse. Jana Kopelent Rehak documents how a sense of place enables Smith Islanders to cope and hope in the face of erosion, sea level rise, aging, and socioeconomic change. This placemaking , constructed with faith, knowledge, memories, relationships, and work, is instructive and timely as changing weather and climate are affecting all communities. ―Michael Paolisso, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland We Live in the Water is both an extraordinarily sensitive work of ethnography and a timely intervention in contemporary debates on climate change, aging, and the challenges that face coastal communities. In lucid prose, Kopelent Rehak provides a moving account of change, community, and hope. ―Ruth E. Toulson, Maryland Institute College of Art A captivating story of environmental crisis and community on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Jana Kopelent Rehak (BALTIMORE, MD) is a cultural anthropologist, visual artist, photographer, filmmaker, and professor at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Recovering Face: Czech Political Prisoners and coeditor of The Politics of Joking: Anthropological Engagements .