The Environment in World History / Edition 1

by Stephen Mosley

Overview

Covering the last five hundred years of global history, The Environment in World History examines the processes that have transformed the Earth and put growing pressure on natural resources.

Chapters and case studies explore a wide range of issues, including:

• the hunting of wildlife and the loss of biodiversity in nearly every part of the globe
 
• the clearing of the world’s forests and the development of strategies to halt their decline
 
• the degradation of soils, one of the most profound and unnoticed ways that humans have altered the planet
 
• the impact of urban-industrial growth and the deepening ‘ecological footprints’ of the world’s cities
 
• the pollution of air, land and water as the ‘inevitable’ trade-off for continued economic growth worldwide.
 

The Environment in World History offers a fresh environmental perspective on familiar world history narratives of imperialism and colonialism, trade and commerce, and technological progress and the advance of civilisation, and will be invaluable reading for all students of world history and environmental studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415409568
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/21/2010
Series:	Themes in World History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	134
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Stephen Mosley is Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe), Lancaster University. He is the author of The Chimney of the World: A History of Smoke Pollution in Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, also published by Routledge.

Table of Contents

List of tables viii

Acknowledgements ix

1 Introduction: environment and history 1

2 The world hunt 13

3 Forests and forestry 31

4 Soils and irrigation 56

5 Cities and the environment 83

6 Conclusion: beyond the limits? 113

Index 117

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

'A book like this one goes a long way to making environmental history something that any and everyone can easily grasp.' – Reviews in History

'A must read for anyone interested in exploring the historical roots of a planetwide ecological crisis. Essential.' – Choice

'Meticulously researched, it is sure to provide even the hardened environmental historian with some new case study, some unexpected interpretive slant or some grim statistic to mull over. Brief though it is, this is surely one of the best histories of the environment currently available.' – Environment and History

Editorial Reviews

'A book like this one goes a long way to making environmental history something that any and everyone can easily grasp.' – Reviews in History

'A must read for anyone interested in exploring the historical roots of a planetwide ecological crisis. Essential.' – Choice

'Meticulously researched, it is sure to provide even the hardened environmental historian with some new case study, some unexpected interpretive slant or some grim statistic to mull over. Brief though it is, this is surely one of the best histories of the environment currently available.' – Environment and History

From the Publisher