Recognizing that the international community is on the horns of a dilemma [the environmental impact of spectacular economic growth since 1945 ], world historians must look beyond development for an organizing principle. The new narrative of world history must have ecological process as its major theme. It must keep human events within the context of where they really happen, and that is the ecosystem of the earth. The story of world history, if it is to be balanced and accurate, will inevitably consider the natural environment and the myriad ways in which it has both affected and been affected by human activities.

—J. Donald Hughes, ed. The Face of the Earth:
Environment and World History