It was during a rainy Tuesday breaktime that I realised why I was so flippant about including environmental history in my curriculum. ‘The climate, you see,’  I said to my colleague Tamsin as I double-boiled the staffroom kettle, ‘can’t challenge you when you don’t include it.’

Kate Hawkey’s book History and the Climate Crisis had convinced me that I did need to include some teaching of climate change in my history curriculum. Yet I was resistant. Environmental history felt alien, unfamiliar, other.

A new person joined my most-beloved WhatsApp group last year, and I was horrified when I saw her name appear. What if she interrupted the dynamic of our phone chat? What if she silenced another friend by dominating the group? What if she stole one of my best friends from me?

I soon realised that I had the same feeling about bringing in histories of the landscape, environment and climate into my history curriculum. How would the dynamic work in my curriculum if I shoehorned it in? What rhythms would be disrupted? What topics would I have to lose?...