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Changes in the natural environment may result from climatic variations, natural disasters, or the spread of disease. For example, both the worsening of climatic conditions and the Black Death epidemics are thought to have contributed to the crisis of feudalism in 14th-century Europe. Changes in the natural environment may be either independent of human activities or caused by them. Deforestation, erosion, air pollution, and contemporary climate change belong to the latter category, and they in turn may have far-reaching social consequences.