14 July 2025; 13:00-14:00 GMT
Presenter: Hannah Fluck
Biography
As Senior National Archaeologist at the National Trust Hannah oversees the relationship between the historic environment and archaeology and the Trust’s ambitious landscape scale programmes for nature and climate, in particular with regard to peatland restoration, tree planting and river management. Prior to joining the Trust in 2022 Hannah was Head of Environmental Strategy at Historic England overseeing its work on climate change, increasing awareness of the relevance of heritage to climate change policy and action, and has become a leading voice on the subject. A graduate of the University of Oxford (BA Archaeology and Anthropology, 1997- 2000), Hannah is a founding steering committee member of the Climate Heritage Network (founded at UN Climate Action Summit, San Francisco 2018), contributing author for the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, and author of Historic England’s Climate Change Adaptation Report.
Post to be presented
Title: Holme Fen Posts | The Great Fen
Holme Fen Posts | The Great Fen
Additional Video: Every Place has a Climate Story – with Marcy Rockman
Every Place has a Climate Story – with Marcy Rockman
Session Highlights
Hannah Fluck – Senior National Archaeologist, National Trust
Topic: The Long History of Archaeologists and Climate Change
Hannah Fluck presented a thought-provoking session on the overlooked but essential role of heritage and archaeology in climate response. Drawing from her position at the National Trust, Dr Fluck illustrated how archaeological thinking, conservation practices, and time-based expertise offer underutilised tools for systemic change.
Her key message: archaeologists are already dealing with climate change, but climate policy isn’t dealing with archaeologists.
Overview
Dr Fluck argued that although heritage professionals have long grappled with environmental change, their expertise is excluded mainly from climate planning and policy. From reuse to risk awareness, the heritage sector already practices many of the principles needed for sustainable adaptation , but remains on the margins.
Heritage as Climate-Relevant
“It’s almost impossible to do my work without engaging with climate change.”
- Climate change is shaping how sites are preserved, accessed, and interpreted.
- Institutions like Historic England have published on climate risks since the 1990s.
- Projects like SCAPE, CITiZAN and CHERISH respond directly to coastal erosion and change.
“The greenest building is the one that’s already built.” – Carl Elefante, cited and reaffirmed by Dr Fluck.
A Sector Sidelined
- Despite its relevance, heritage is rarely included in climate policy.
- Dr Fluck asked the audience: “Have you worked with Historic England?” No hands went up.
- Many assume heritage is about the past, not the future; culture, not nature.
Misconceptions and Resistance
Slide: “Things people say…”
- “Heritage is narrative, not evidence.”
- “Old buildings are bad for the environment.”
- “Just tell us where it is so we can avoid it.”
- Heritage is seen as a barrier to innovation — rather than a foundation for it.
Dr Fluck challenged these assumptions, citing the National Trust’s 250,000 hectares of managed land as a clear reason heritage should be part of the climate solution.
Expanding the Definition
“What do you think heritage means?”
- Audience responses included: “learning from the past for future planning,” and “just the physical site — not the impacts.”
- Dr Fluck then broadened the concept: heritage also includes peat soils, landscapes, traditional land management, ancient trees, and lost habitats.
Heritage = culture + ecology + continuity
Communication is Strategy
Lesson: It’s not about you.
- Effective communication requires meeting others where they are.
- What matters to you may not matter to them — lead with their priorities.
- Terminology (e.g. “conservation”) means different things in different sectors.
- Quote: “We need a Babel fish to help translate.”
Toolkit Thinking
“We need to help the right people understand the right things about what we can bring.”
- Use heritage stories to contextualise change
- Provide evidence of successful (and failed) adaptation
- Connect cultural and natural systems through systems thinking
- Offer a space to imagine futures by looking to past practices
- Encourage exploration beyond the “here and now”
Archaeology’s Time-Based Uniquity
- Archaeologists are uniquely skilled at thinking across centuries, not news cycles
- They work at scales that range from hyperlocal to global
- This ability to navigate across time and space is deeply underused in climate work
Q&A Summary
Q1: How do we incorporate more recent archival materials in heritage work, not just deep time?
Answer (Hannah Fluck):
- Archaeologists already work across a wide spectrum — from prehistory to 20th-century records.
- Examples include:
- Flood meadows and historic floodplain markers used in modern flood planning.
- School diaries, drowning records, and informal archives that capture lived climate experience.
- These materials link human memory with environmental change and provide usable, place-based data for current planning.
Q2: How can we use archaeology to tell climate stories?
Answer (Hannah Fluck):
- Objects are powerful tools for storytelling — they carry meaning across time.
- When used effectively, they can:
- Illustrate adaptation and resilience in response to past environmental shifts.
- Make abstract climate risks tangible and emotionally resonant.
- Climate stories told through artefacts are not theoretical — they are grounded and relatable.
Q3: Can you share more about the CLANDAGE project and the Hebridean diaries?
Answer (Hannah Fluck):
- The CLANDAGE project examines how climate, landscape, and narrative intersect through time.
- It draws from:
- Diaries, local memory, and community-held records to trace environmental change.
- Particularly, Hebridean diaries show how people adapted to long-term climatic variability.
These aren’t just observations — they’re active knowledge resources for informing modern decisions.