In Chapter One there will be a new section on recent ideas about Global Change, relating to such matters as Kyoto, Copenhagen, the Stern report, etc. There is also a need to review a large corpus of new ideas on the human evolution, domestication and current demographic trends.?

  In Chapter Two, the section on fire needs to say more about fire histories, the section on desertification is very dated and so needs a complete re-write, and the same is true of the section on pollution effects on vegetation.

  Chapter Three may require rather less change, though the section on habitat change and animal decline is dated and too UK centred.

  Chapter Four needs to see an expanded section on soil carbon, and also needs to synthesise a great deal of recent work on the history of soil erosion and current trends in the Mediterranean lands and elsewhere. The section on soil conservation is also very dated.

   Chapter Five has many outdated examples, and in particular needs to see a new treatment of the nitrate issue. The section on marine pollution is rather brief and needs a good deal more on oil pollution effects and also on plastics in the worlds oceans.

    Chapter Six needs more material to be included on historical trends in human influences on rates of landscape change. Nearly all the material in the first half of Chapter Seven needs revision and expansion.?

   Chapter Eight needs to be revised in the light of the IPCC report of 2007.

   Chapter Nine and subsequent chapters, were new in the sixth edition, and so do not suffer to the same degree from being out of date, but, on the other hand, there have been many detailed changes in knowledge that need to be incorporated, not least on the importance of such issues as Ocean Acidification and the potential effects of ice cap retreat on tectonic and volcanic activity.

  The final chapter can remain largely unchanged, except that some evaluation is needed, by way of conclusion, as to the relative importance of the various environmental issues that face mankind.?New edition of the classic text

Cover
Title page
Copyright page
Preface to the Seventh Edition
About the Companion Website
Part I: The Past and Present
1: Introduction
The development of ideas
The development of human population and stages of cultural development
Hunting and gathering
Humans as cultivators, keepers and metal workers
Modern industrial and urban civilizations
2: The Human Impact on Vegetation
Introduction
The use of fire
Fires: natural and anthropogenic
Some consequences of fire suppression
Some effects of fire on vegetation
The role of grazing
Deforestation
Secondary rain forest
The human role in the creation and maintenance of savanna
The spread of desert vegetation on desert margins
The maquis of the Mediterranean lands
The prairies and other mid-latitude and high-altitude grasslands
Post-glacial vegetational change in Britain and Europe
Lowland heaths
Introduction, invasion and explosion
Air pollution and its effects on plants
Forest decline
Miscellaneous causes of plant decline
The change in genetic and species diversity
Conclusion: threats to plant life
3: Human Influence on Animals
Domestication of animals
Dispersal and invasions of animals
Human influence on the expansion of animal populations
Causes of animal contractions and decline: pollution
Habitat change and animal decline
Other causes of animal decline
Animal extinctions in prehistoric times
Modern-day extinctions
4: The Human Impact on the Soil
Introduction
Salinity: natural sources
Human agency and increased salinity
Irrigation salinity
Dryland salinity
Urban salinity
Interbasin water transfers
Coastal zone salinity
Consequences of salinity
Reclamation of salt-affected lands
Lateritization
Accelerated podzolization and acidification
Some anthrosols resulting from agriculture and urbanization
Soil carbon
Soil structure alteration
Soil drainage and its impact
Soil fertilization
Fires and soil quality
Soil erosion: general considerations
Soil erosion associated with deforestation and agriculture
Accelerated wind erosion
Soil erosion produced by fire
Soil erosion associated with construction and urbanization
Soil conservation
5: The Human Impact on the Waters
Introduction
Deliberate modification of rivers
Urbanization and its effects on river flow
Vegetation modification and its effect on river flow
The human impact on lake levels
Changes in groundwater conditions
Water pollution
Chemical pollution by agriculture and other activities
Deforestation and its effects on water quality
Thermal pollution
Pollution with suspended sediments
Marine pollution
6: Human Agency in Geomorphology
Introduction
Landforms produced by excavation
Landforms produced by construction and dumping
Sediment transport by rivers
Accelerated sedimentation
Ground subsidence
Arroyo trenching, gullies and peat haggs
Accelerated weathering and the tufa decline
Accelerated mass movements
Deliberate modification of channels
Non-deliberate river-channel changes
Reactivation and stabilization of sand dunes
Accelerated coastal erosion
Changing rates of salt marsh accretion
The human impact on seismicity and volcanoes
7: The Human Impact on Climate and the Atmosphere
World climates
The greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide
Other gases
Ozone depletion and climate change
Aerosols
Global dimming and global brightening
Vegetation and albedo change
Forests, irrigation and climate
The possible effects of water diversion schemes
Lakes
Urban climates
Deliberate climatic modification
Geoengineering
Urban air pollution
Air pollution: some further effects
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Conclusions
Part II: The Future
8: The Future: Introduction
Introduction
Changes in the biosphere
Climate and geomorphology
9: The Future: Coastal Environments
Introduction
The steric effect
Anthropogenic contribution to sea-level change
Permafrost degradation
Melting of glaciers and sea-level rise
Ice sheets and sea-level rise
How fast are sea levels rising?
The amount of sea-level rise by 2100
Land subsidence
Coral reefs
Salt marshes and mangrove swamps
River deltas
Estuaries
Cliffed coasts
Sandy beaches
The role of sediment starvation
Conclusions
10: The Future: Hydrological and Geomorphological Impacts