Earth-System Science - A Companion to Environmental Geography - page 163

some, this vagueness suggests the end of ESS as a practical (or practicable) endea-
vour. Certainly, the decline in allocated funding in the United States and the appar-
ent indifference or marginalisation in UK funding may herald such an end. Equally,
what we may be observing is simply the immature development of an Earth-System
Pre-Science.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am extremely grateful that Francis Bretherton took the time to respond in detail
to an out-of-the-blue e-mail to answer questions on the origins of Earth-System
Science. Other insights have been gratefully received through conversations with a
number of colleagues. Any interpretation herein is my sole responsibility.
NOTES
1. This and the following two paragraphs are based on personal communication with
Francis Bretherton. He notes that some inaccuracies may have crept in due to the passage
of time but that 'it may perhaps provide encouragement or helpful advice to individuals
of another generation, who are grappling with the same issues but with even greater
urgency'.
2. 'Das Wort Klima bezeichnet allerdings zuerst eine specifi sche Beschaffenheit des
Luftkreises; aber diese Beschaffenheit ist abhängig von dem perpetuirlichen Zusammen-
wirken . . . mit der wärmestrahlenden trockenen Erde, die . . . mit Wald und Kräutern
bedeckt ist.'
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