SCIENCE Article: An Earth Systems Science Agency?

Very interesting article in current issue of Science...

The United States faces unprecedented environmental and economic challenges in the decades ahead. Foremost among them will be climate
change, sea-level rise, altered weather patterns, declines in freshwater availability and quality, and loss of biodiversity. Addressing these challenges will require well-conceived, science-based, simultaneous responses on
multiple scales, from global and national, to regional and local. The executive and legislative branches of the federal government and of the states will have to transcend bureaucratic boundaries and become much more innovative in developing and implementing policy responses. We strongly believe organizational changes must be made at the federal level to align our public institutional infrastructure to address these challenges. The most pressing organizational change that is required is the establishment of an independent Earth Systems Science Agency formed by merging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

An Earth Systems Science Agency

Mark Schaefer,^* D. James Baker, John H. Gibbons, Charles G. Groat, Donald Kennedy, Charles F. Kennel, David Rejeski

Addressing serious environmental and economic challenges in the United States will require organizational changes at the federal level.

An Earth Systems Science Agency -- Schaefer et al. 321 (5885): 44 -- Science