{"product_id":"the-future-of-the-past-when-cultural-heritage-meets-climate-change-hardback-9781509567843","title":"The Future of the Past; When Cultural Heritage Meets Climate Change (Hardback) 9781509567843","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Future of the Past\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eWhen Cultural Heritage Meets Climate Change\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eThijs Weststeijn (Author), Liz Waters (Translated by)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509567843, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 5 June 2026\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e240 pages\u003cbr\u003e21.8 x 14.5 x 2.5 cm, 0.476 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Heritage experts have spent years documenting the threats posed by mass tourism, war and commerce, but Weststeijn says they have been late to chart the damage wrought by a warming climate.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePilita Clark, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Timely and accessible [...] a valuable contribution to an increasingly necessary debate.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNature\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Thijs Weststeijn's \u003ci\u003eThe Future of the Past\u003c\/i\u003e isn't quite canned soup splattered on Van Gogh's \u003ci\u003eSunflowers\u003c\/i\u003e, but its message is every bit as urgent: cultural heritage is under threat from climate change. With a sure grasp of climate science and the policy landscape, Weststeijn takes us on a thoughtful tour of the cultural sites – and the preservation theories – that climate change is putting to the test in the Netherlands and around the globe. He shows that we do, in fact, have tools to protect cultural heritage at our disposal: age-old non-Western practices, new digital technologies, and refined reconstruction techniques. If the facts of climate science alone fail to motivate adequate climate action, perhaps the prospect of losing our shared cultural heritage will.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSimon Richter, Class of 1965 Endowed Term Professor of Germanic Studies, University of Pennsylvania\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Weststeijn's volume is an eye-opening account of how the climate is putting historical heritage at risk on a global scale. As institutions are tasked with adapting to a rapidly changing world, we will need to take necessary measures to protect our collections. For curators and all supporters of culture, this book lays the essential foundations on how to approach preserving the past.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLizzie Marx, Curator of Dutch and Flemish Art, National Gallery of Ireland\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This book is so well written it is hard to put down. Thijs Weststeijn shows us that, the way things are going, climate change is not only going to wipe out species and make wide areas of the globe uninhabitable, it is also going to destroy many of the most beautiful products of the world's cultures. He offers no false hopes but constructive suggestions, and a mass of fascinating detail which allows us to gauge the scale of the problems we need to address.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Taylor, Professor of the History of the Classical Tradition, University of London\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the wooden piles under Amsterdam begin to rot, water levels rise in Venice. The 4,500-year-old ruins of Mohenjo-daro flood in Pakistan. Compaction of peat soil in northern England is causing Hadrian's Wall to collapse. The bricks of excavated Babylon are exploding as a result of increasing salt levels. Melting permafrost in Siberia is endangering the ancient burial mounds of the Scythian civilization. In the US, hurricanes have partially destroyed the heritage of New Orleans and Puerto Rico, while the 2019 wildfires forced the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to close.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe climate crisis is threatening historical heritage all over the world, with higher temperatures, more storms and fires and, of course, rising sea levels. Monuments, buildings, inner cities and cultural landscapes are at risk, and museums such as the Louvre have already started relocating parts of their collections to climate-proof storage facilities. Written by a highly regarded art historian, \u003ci\u003eThe Future of the Past\u003c\/i\u003e addresses this urgent issue and asks us to include the fate of beauty in our conversations on climate change.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExtreme weather means we have to approach history in new ways. Historical heritage now confronts us not only with the past, but also the future.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrologue: A cry of nations o'er sunken halls\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. Historical heritage threatened by the climate crisis\u003cbr\u003eDutch canaries in a global coalmine\u003cbr\u003eA bathtub surrounded by water \u003cbr\u003eA heritage worldwide under threat \u003cbr\u003eHigher water temperatures, more droughts and rain \u003cbr\u003eThawing permafrost \u003cbr\u003eStorms and fires \u003cbr\u003eThe rising sea \u003cbr\u003eMuseums \u003cbr\u003eCombinations of factors\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. Why heritage?\u003cbr\u003eThe heritage crusade continues\u003cbr\u003eInheriting and legating: the new challenge\u003cbr\u003eSolastalgia\u003cbr\u003eHeritage: between micro and micro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3. Art and nature: fertile cross-pollination\u003cbr\u003eMankind's best moment?\u003cbr\u003eThe Little Ice Age\u003cbr\u003eLandscape into art\u003cbr\u003eThe artificial landscape\u003cbr\u003eFrom wind and pear to coal and oil\u003cbr\u003eShell and the climate movement\u003cbr\u003eArtists versus the fossil fuel industry\u003cbr\u003eThe robber barons and their art patronage\u003cbr\u003eArtwashing worldwide\u003cbr\u003eAnother colonial dimension: Britain, India, Myanmar, Iran, Iraq\u003cbr\u003eMuseums as battlegrounds for climate action\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4. The historical sensation in the Anthropocene\u003cbr\u003eHuman and natural history: a matter of scale\u003cbr\u003eThe historical sensation in the light of the future\u003cbr\u003eThe end of progressivism\u003cbr\u003eProgress in the West = decline in the Global South\u003cbr\u003eCyclical history\u003cbr\u003eThe Great Acceleration\u003cbr\u003eHuman and non-human time regimes\u003cbr\u003eThe multiple temporalities of heritage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5. Transformation\u003cbr\u003eAuthenticity and materials\u003cbr\u003eA cyclical view: breaking down and building up\u003cbr\u003eLook on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!\u003cbr\u003eAbandoning heritage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e6. Digitization\u003cbr\u003eThe real and the virtual\u003cbr\u003eThe ubiquity and ephemerality of the digital world\u003cbr\u003eDigitization as a tool\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7. Reconstruction\u003cbr\u003eA receding coastline: the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and Clavell Tower\u003cbr\u003eThe temple of Zhang Fei\u003cbr\u003eUNESCO's views on reconstruction\u003cbr\u003ePlace, identity and the 'global commons'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue: looking the beast in the eye\u003cbr\u003eHeritage contributes to better understanding\u003cbr\u003eCathedral thinking\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of illustrations\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: History of art \/ art \u0026amp; design styles [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on History of art \/ art \u0026amp; design styles\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22History%20of%20art%20\/%20art%20\u0026amp;%20design%20styles%20%5BAC%5D%22\"\u003eAC\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52453576409368,"sku":"9781509567843","price":17.25,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509567843.jpg?v=1785286971","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-future-of-the-past-when-cultural-heritage-meets-climate-change-hardback-9781509567843","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}