World Environmental History

World Environmental History, a Berkshire Essential, explores how the biosphere is affected by human interventions such as climate change, deforestation, waste management, water and wind energy, population growth, oil spills, ecological imperialism, and urbanization. An interdisciplinary approach to the field considers biological and physical processes as integral parts of history, with mammals, birds, plants, bacteria, and viruses as “biotic actors” that play important roles. So do geological formations and disruptions, such as deserts, mountains, islands, earthquakes, and tsunamis. The volume’s rich content includes articles on the anthroposphere, carrying capacity, ethnobotany, Gaia theory, and the Green Revolution, for instance—all of which define key concepts that shape the environmental studies so crucial to a sustainable future.