During a few hot days in late August 2023 the Institute of History and the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern hosted the 12th Conference of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH). Inspired by the mountainous region surrounding Bern the theme for the conference was ‘Mountains and plains’, a topic that enabled various approaches from different disciplines. Anna Storm, Axel Sievers, Marko Marila and Rebecca Öhnfeldt from the Nuclear Natures team was there and participated in different panels.

Axel Sievers, Anna Storm and Rebecca Öhnfeldt participated in a panel titled ‘Nuclear Environments. Waste, Animals, Water and Infrastructure in the 20th and 21st centuries’. In this panel Axel Sievers presented a paper titled ‘Nuclear Space and Storage Natures: Fixation of Ecologies, Naturalization of Waste and Uneven Development’. Anna Storm and Rebecca Öhnfeldt together presented the paper ‘Caring for wild animals at nuclear power plants: A local emotion management device?’.

Marko Marila presented the paper ‘Heritage ecologies and contemporary art’, which was part of a panel titled ‘Environmental heritage, museums, and education’.

During the conference Anna Storm also chaired the panel ‘Placing and Displacing Nuclear Power: Exploring the Socio-Ecological Entanglements of Nuclear Facilities’ Afterlives’.

Read more about the conference here.