The subsurface has always been essential to human survival and development since human lineage diverted from that of the chimpanzee some 6 million years ago ( Brunet et al. 2002 ). From a geological point of view humans are a relatively young species on the face of the Earth. The subsurface almost literally played a mother role for humankind, a role that is still acknowledged in certain cultures ( Fig. 2.1 ). Newton compared the Earth with an animal or a vegetable. In his Gaia-theory, Lovelock (2003) states that the Earth behaves as a single, self-regulating system comprising physical, chemical, biological and human components. This concept was initially severely attacked, mostly by biologists, but since the mid 1990s, resistance has diminished ( Lovelock 2006 ).

Abstract Throughout history, if generally more conspicuously in the Old World than the New, military activities have locally and sometimes regionally shaped the face of the Earth by construction of defense works in earth or stone. Military enhancement of terrain features by fortification, scarping, or flooding to form obstacles that counter or deflect attack may thus complement the effects of natural geomorphologic agents. Military operations and exercises have polluted parts of the Earth's surface through use of explosive ordnance and by fuel leakage, and disfigured it by redundant construction works. German military geologists in particular have necessarily developed peacetime roles to protect the environment rather than the state. Yet because agricultural use and urban sprawl are restricted within the large tracts of countryside designated as military training areas, these may preserve a heritage of habitats in a fairly natural state—as valuable in terms of conservation as the many sites worldwide now preserved for their military historical record.

Abstract Despite the successful conclusion of the “War to end all wars” and the subsequent formation of the League of Nations, the implementation of the Treaty of Versailles proved unworkable because its basic premises were not based on a practical understanding of human nature and the need for adequate natural resources at the national level. With a revitalized Germany behind him by the late 1930s, Hitler was busy expanding his “Lebensraum” and being imitated by the leaders of Japan and Italy. Such actions rapidly upset the stability of the “Versailles World Order” concept. In view of this drift toward a new geo-war, Professor Richard M. Field noted in his presidential address to the American Geophysical Union on 30 April 1941: 1 From the dawn of history this method of conquest and colonization has led to the rise and fall of “master races” and imperial governments, equally aided and abetted by organized science and organized religion and organized trade…. Much as we may wish it otherwise, the true history of the rise of civilization is the history of organized science in which, until quite recently, the most important facts were either unmentioned or misinterpreted by historians. That is why “we learn from history that we do not learn from history.” This lack of historical understanding and a diplomatic inability to resolve the associated geopolitical problems then brought on a series of conflicts that would involve practically all of the world’s geophysicists. Looking back to 1940, one finds that this was