The view that human activities are governed by the environment, primarily the physical environment. J. M. Blaut (2005) challenges the central thesis of environmental determinism, while J. Sachs (2005) reconsiders the role of the environment in shaping human history. Judkins et al. (2008) Geog. J. 174, 1 think that Jared Diamond’s books are pure environmental determinism: ‘this resurgence threatens negative consequences if uncritically adopted by policymakers.’