The SAGE Handbook of Environmental Change is an extensive survey of the interdisciplinary science of environmental change, including recent debates on climate change and the full range of other natural and anthropogenic changes affecting the Earth-ocean-atmosphere system in the past, present and future. It examines the historic importance, present status and future prospects of the field over two volumes. With more than 40 chapters, the books situate the defining characteristics and key paradigms within a state-of-the-art review of the field, including its changing nature and diversity of approaches, evidence base, key theoretical arguments, resonances with other disciplines and relationships between theory, research and practice. Opening with a detailed, contextualizing essay by the editors, the work is arranged into six parts:

INTRODUCTIONBackground to the Science of Environmental Change - John A. Matthews, Patrick J. Bartlein, Keith R. Briffa, Alastair G. Dawson, Anne De Vernal, Tim Denham, Sherilyn C. Fritz and Frank OldfieldPART ONE: APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGEPhilosophical and Methodological Perspectives on the Science of Environmental Change - Stephan HarrisonDirect Observation and Monitoring of Climate and Related Environmental Change - Keith D. AlversonReconstructing and Inferring Past Environmental Change - Frank M. ChambersDating Environmental Change and Reconstructing Chronologies - Mike J.C. WalkerModelling Environmental Change and Developing Future Projections - Reto KnuttiApproaches to Understanding Long-Term Human-Environment Interaction - John A. Dearing Past, Present and FuturePART TWO: EVIDENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND THE GEO-ECOLOGICAL RESPONSEEnvironmental Change in the Geological Record - Jane E. Francis, Alan M. Haywood, Daniel Hill, Paul Marwick and Claire McdonaldEvidence of Environmental Change from the Coastal and Marine Realm - Ian D. Goodwin and William R. HowardEvidence of Environmental Change from the Cryosphere - Shawn MarshallEvidence of Environmental Change from Terrestrial Palaeohydrology - Wim HoekEvidence of Environmental Change from Terrestrial and Freshwater Palaeoecology - Alison J. SmithEvidence of Environmental Change from Aeolian and Hillslope Sediments and Other Terrestrial Sources - Joseph A. MasonEnvironmental Change and Archaeological Evidence - Tim DenhamEvidence of Environmental Change from Annually-Resolved Proxies With Particular Reference to Dendroclimatology and the Last Millennium - Eugene R. Wahl and David FrankEarly-Instrumental and Documentary Evidence of Environmental Change - Cary J. MockPART THREE: CAUSES, MECHANISMS AND DYNAMICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGEPlate Tectonics, Continental Drift, Vulcanism and Mountain Building - Paul BishopExtraterrestrial Causes of Environmental Catastrophes - Elisabetta Pierazzo and H. Jay MeloshAstronomical Theory and Orbital Forcing - André BergerMillennial-Scale Climatic Events during the Last Glacial Episode - Siwan M. Davies and Anders SvenssonSolar and Volcanic Forcing of Decadal- to Millennial-Scale Climatic Variations - Raimund Muscheler and Eric FischerOcean-Atmosphere Interactions on Interannual to Decadal Timescales - Mathias Vuille and René D. GarreaudResponses of Biogeochemical Cycles in the Sea to Environmental Change - Thomas F. Pedersen and Rainer ZahnAnthropogenic Drivers of Environmental Change - Jemma L. Gornall, andrew J. Wiltshire and Richard A. BettsPART FOUR: KEY ISSUES OF HUMAN-INDUCED ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AND THEIR IMPACTSMonitoring of Global Land-Cover - Sietse O. Los and Jamie WilliamsHuman Impacts on Terrestrial Biota and Ecosystems - Craig Miller and Iain GordonHuman Impacts on Lacustrine Ecosystems - Richard W. Battarbee, Helen Bennion, Peter Gell and Neil RoseHuman Impacts on Coastal and Marine Geo-Ecosystems - Ben DaleyHuman Impacts on the Atmosphere - Kevin J. NoonePART FIVE: PATTERNS, PROCESSES AND IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AT THE REGIONAL SCALEEnvironmental Change in the Humid Tropics and Monsoonal Regions - Mark Bush and Will D. GoslingEnvironmental Change in the Arid and Semi-Arid Regions - Yang XiaopingEnvironmental Change in the Mediterranean Region - Mira Bar-MatthewsEnvironmental Change in the Temperate Forested Regions - Matt Mcglone, Jamie Wood and Patrick J. BartleinEnvironmental Change in the Temperate Grasslands and Steppe - Pavel E. Tarasov, John W. Williams, Jed O. Kaplan, Hermann Österle, Tatiana V. Kuznetsova and Mayke WagnerEnvironmental Change in the Arctic and Antarctic - Marianne S.V. DouglasEnvironmental Change in Mountain Regions - Martin BenistonEnvironmental Change in Coastal Areas and Islands - Patrick NunnPART SIX: RESPONSES OF PEOPLE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIETYTesting the Role of Climate Change in Human Evolution - S.P.E. Blockley, I. Candy and S.M. BlockleyThe Origins and Spread of Early Agriculture and Domestication - Deborah Pearsall and Peter W. Stahl Environmental and Cultural ConsiderationsComplexity, Causality and Collapse - Georgina Endfield Social Discontinuity in History and PrehistoryVulnerability and Resilience of Contemporary Societies to Environmental Change - Donald R. NelsonDisease, Human and Animal Health, and Environmental Change - Matthew Baylis and Andrew P. MorsePolicy and Management Options for the Mitigation of Environmental Change - Katie Moon and Chris CocklinSocio-Economic Adaptation to Environmental Change - Chris J. Barrow Towards Sustainable Development