Environmental history underlies issues such as: How much and how fast has the climate changed? How far are such changes man-induced? Is nature in balance? Are humans helpless to stem – or bound to alter – natural processes? Has humanity on the whole improved or damaged the Earth? In what sense do environmental misuse and reform matter? Today’s environmental concerns trigger these essentially historical questions. Save for the study of oppressed minorities, no aspect of history is currently so resurgent as that of the environment.
