While much has been written dealing with how people affect the environment, less attention has been given to how the environment affects human development. In an ever more crowded world there is a need for anticipatory environmental management, and a crucial input to this is a consideration of the interaction between the environment and humans.The environment is not as stable, benign or controllable as people like to think. The world population is vastly larger than it has ever been and is still growing, and humans increasingly upset nature through pollution and other activities. While modern communications may help environmental managers, rapid travel also increases the dispersal of diseases and pests. Technological advance and social development are not all beneficial; some innovations have the effect of making people more vulnerable to disruption by natural disaster, and citizens are often less able to cope with changed conditions than people were in the past.This study addresses key issues such as soil degradation, natural climatic variations and volcanic activity, and provides geography and earth sciences students with an introduction to the major debates surrounding this to