Recent developments in physical geography have demonstrated the need for and advantages of an approach to physical environment based on energy and power as the rate of doing work. This energetic approach has been used in meteorology and climatology, in biogeography, soil geography, geomorphology and hydrology. The book contains six essays which demonstrate the importance of energetics in these major branches of physical geography and how it has gained prominence in the last few years. Because the approach is a feature of all branches of physical geography, energetics provides a unifying theme for the study of the physical environment. Although this book is not a proceedings volume, much of the material was presented at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Bristol in September 1986.