Many contemporary environmental issues such as climate change represent both global as well as regional phenomena. However, throughout much of history, human impact on the natural environment had only local or regional reach. In the past, the impact of nature on societies has been considerable. For many historians, philosophers, geographers and economists, the natural circumstances (for example, climatic conditions) shaped in an almost fate$@#*^%#@#hyphen;like manner the existential conditions of humankind. The perspective of geographical determinism is a major representative of such a view (e.g. Huntington 2003). More recently, geographical determinism has fallen into disrepute because at least with the onset of industrial society it became possible to write human history as the history of its emancipation from natural variability and change. Significant populations of humans now live in all climatic zones of the world. Technological innovations (e.g. air conditioning, building design, crop varieties) and cultural innovations (e.g. patterns of socializing, diet) that at times evolved quickly or at other times more slowly represent capacities adaptive to a range of climatic conditions. Cultural change has opened more of the world to human habitation.