The relationship between social thought and earth processes is an oddly neglected part of the social sciences.

This exciting book offers to make good the deficit by exploring how human activity and planetary processes impact upon each other. The book:

• Provides a much needed in-depth inquiry into the volatile relationship between human life and the physical earth

• Considers the social and political implications of consistently thinking of the earth as a dynamic planet

• Asks what we can learn from natural catastrophes and from those who have lived through them

• Offers an inter-disciplinary perspective bringing together insights from sociology, geography, philosophy and earth / life sciences.

The result is a landmark work that will be of interest to readers across the social sciences and humanities as well as environmental studies and disaster studies.