From the depths of the oceans to the highest reaches of the atmosphere,
the human impact on the environment is significant and undeniable. These
forms of global and local environmental change collectively appear to
signal the arrival of a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. This is
a geological era defined not by natural environmental fluctuations or
meteorite impacts, but by collective actions of humanity.
Environmental Transformations offers a concise and accessible
introduction to the human practices and systems that sustain the
Anthropocene. It combines accounts of the carbon cycle, global heat
balances, entropy, hydrology, forest ecology and pedology, with theories
of demography, war, industrial capitalism, urban development, state
theory and behavioural psychology. This book charts the particular role
of geography and geographers in studying environmental change and its
human drivers. It provides a review of critical theories that can help
to uncover the socio-economic and political factors that influence
environmental change. It also explores key issues in contemporary
environmental studies, such as resource use, water scarcity, climate
change, industrial pollution and deforestation. These issues are
'mapped' through a series of geographical case studies to illustrate the
particular value of geographical notions of space, place and scale, in
uncovering the complex nature of environmental change in different
socio-economic, political and cultural contexts. Finally, the book
considers the different ways in which nations, communities and
individuals around the world are adapting to environmental change in the
twenty-first century.
Particular attention is given throughout to the uneven geographical
opportunities that different communities have to adapt to environmental
change and to the questions of social justice this situation raises.
This book encourages students to engage in the scientific uncertainties
that surround the study of environmental change, while also discussing
both pessimistic and more optimistic views on the ability of humanity to
address the environmental challenges of our current era.
