ABSTRACT
While histories do not often concern themselves with the future, it is appropriate for a world environmental history to look at the trends active in the twentieth century which are likely to persist into the twenty-first and will continue to affect the worldwide picture. Some of these were discussed in the preceding chapter. In this introduction, I will comment briefly on three kinds of change that are particularly salient and which promise to shape the future in positive and negative ways. These are high technology, including space technology; the world market economy in relation to natural capital; and the reduction of biological diversity.
