This anthology provides a comprehensive overview of the science behind environmental prediction and how, as predictions about environmental change have been taken more seriously and widely, they have affected politics, policy and public perception. Through an array of texts and commentaries that examine the themes of progress, population, environment, biodiversity and sustainability, it shows how twenty-first century predictors should think about what forecasting the future means from a fully global perspective. Providing access and reference points to the origins and development of key disciplines and methods, it will encourage policy makers, professionals and students to reflect on the roots of their own theories and practices.