A yearning for the return of a greener, less polluted, more bountiful and beautiful world is shaping what we buy, where we go, and what we dream of. We take refuge and comfort in the past, while grieving the impact of environmental loss and destruction.

Nature's Return offers an urgent and international vision of how the past is being employed and deployed to imagine the present and a future. Drawing on examples from China, India, the Sahel, as well as Western countries, chapters move through the nostalgic visions of re-wilders, conservationists and anti-environmentalists as well as eco-dystopian science fictions. The book explains the roots and routes of environmental nostalgia to show how a longing for yesterday  is unfolding in different ways across the planet and why it contains the seeds of change.

In order to chart the diverse experiences of environmental loss and yearning, Nature's Return connects environmental policy and practice, politics, history, geography, and cultural studies and will appeal to those seeking a global understanding of nature, culture, and climate change.

Alastair Bonnett is Professor of Social Geography at Newcastle University.