Global Environmental Change A Natural and Cultural Environmental History

About this book

Unmodified reprint of a second edition that was published in 1997. For this second edition, the text has been extensively revised and rewritten to reflect the growth in environmental research during the last decade. Human-induced environmental change is occurring at such a rapid rate that, inevitably, the fundamental processes involved in biogeochemical cycling are being altered.

Global Environmental Change considers alterations to the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and other elements as a result of industrial/technological development and agriculture, which have significantly altered the natural environment. Global Environmental Change adopts a temporal and spatial approach to environmental change, beginning with the natural environmental change of the Quaternery period and continuing with the culturally-induced change since the inception of agriculture 10,000 years ago.

Contents

Preface to second edition
Acknowledgements

1. Nature, culture and environmental change
2. Quaternary geology and climatic change
3. Environmental change in the late and post-glacial periods
4. Prehistoric communities as agents of environmental change
5. Environmental change in the historic period
6. Environmental change due to post-1700 industrialisation
7. The environmental impact of agriculture in the developed world
8. The environmental impact of agriculture in the developing world
9. Other agents of change: forestry, recreation and tourism, biotechnology
10. Conclusion and prospect

References

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