The Environmental History of the World is a concise history of man's interaction with the environment from Ancient to Modern times. Humans have made many changes in our global environment and as a result have had to alter the patterns of their societies or disappear. This process has happened in every historical period and in every part of the inhabited earth. Throughout the book, the relationship between, and the evolution of, environmental thought and actions is discussed. The eight main chapters follow a chronological path through the history of mankind, in relationship to ecosystems around the world. Each chapter concentrates on a general period in human history which has been characterised by large scale changes in the relationship of human societies to the biosphere. Each chapter has three case studies which illustrate the significant patterns occurring at that time. The important twentieth century chapters cover the physical impact of the huge technological and population growth which has occurred and human responses to these problems. Our moral obligations to nature and how we can achieve a sustainable balance between technology and environment are also considered. This is an original work which reaches further than other environmental histories. It is an introduction to environmental history, which assumes little environmental or historical knowledge from the reader.