This book examines the environmental changes of the last three million years. It is a concise, modern survey which details the developments in the study of environmental change. There is a wide geographical coverage, using a minimum of technical language, so that it is accessible to non-geomorphologists and non-geologists. Traditional and recent techniques for the study of the Pleistocene are described and then the chronology, nature, and effects of the major events are outlined. This is followed by a discussion of the Holocene and a detailed analysis of changes during the period of meteorological observations. The book ends with sections on sea-level changes and the causes of climatic change. This new edition has been extensively rewritten. The references and guides to reading have been up-dated and many new figures included. Additional information is provided on new techniques for environmental reconstruction, on climatic sequences preserved in ocean sediments and loess, on sea-level curves, and on the causes of climatic change.