ABSTRACT
This book is set firmly in the present. It is set in the present context of the debates about environmental change, and specifically the concerns over potentially damaging anthropogenic environmental change-be it at the larger scale of issues like global warming, or the smaller scales concerned with soil erosion in limited areas. But it is our conviction that many of these debates demonstrate that the protagonists have not been well informed about the differing time-scales of the phenomena examined, and that consequently both unnecessary alarm and unnecessary complacency may result. On occasion misunderstanding may even lead to pointless international political friction. The present intention of the book is therefore to explore many different aspects of time, and the manner and treatment of time by differing disciplines.
