Deforesting the Earth - From Prehistory to Global CrisisDeforestationthe thinning, changing, and wholesale clearing of forests for fuel, shelter, and agricultureis among the most important ways humans have transformed the environment. Surveying ten thousand years to trace human induced deforestations effect on economies, societies, and landscapes around the world, Deforesting the Earth is the preeminent history of this process and its consequences. Beginning with the return of the forests after the ice age