wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: NEXT EVENT - Atmosphere - March 20-25
Caroling Geary 2007-Feb-27 13:12:00
AHhhh, taking a deep breath. Hmmm. Thanks for this marvelous essay.
I'm reading it again and finding ideas that didn't stick the first
time. I think everyone could find some aspect of this idea to go
with. Even if it is just seeing the town square in a new light. If
they can't, I'd like to hear why.
Fresh air. I think I'll write to NPR radio and say they should
interview WWP for the radio program "Fresh Air". Maybe after I see if
people respond to this call as I hope they will.
On Feb 21, 2007, at 11:30 AM, G. Donald Bain wrote:
> It is that time again, our quarterly event is exactly a month away.
> Time to think of where you will be and how you will create another
> masterpiece for the World Wide Panorama.
>
> I have composed an essay that may spur your imagination on how to
> deal with the theme - Atmosphere.
>
> This essay is also on the WWP web site, along with the rules,
> regulations, and procedures:
> http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/wwp/practical/NextEvent.html
>
> ATMOSPHERE
>
> This may be our most challenging theme yet. The atmosphere is usually
> transparent, invisible. It is vital and ubiquitous, but we don't
> always notice it. This theme will require thinking and planning,
> watching and waiting.
>
> Some of nature's most striking moments of beauty, rainbows and
> sunsets, are products of the atmosphere. Clouds are an endless
> fascination, lightning is thrilling. Atmospheric effects, such as
> distance haze and fog, make for dramatic photographs. At high
> latitudes the auroras make an unrivaled natural lightshow. Seeing the
> sun break through clouds, projecting rays of light to the ground, is
> truly inspirational.
>
> We walk upon the lithosphere (the solid earth) and live in the lowest
> level of the atmosphere. But birds, bats, and flying insects have
> made the atmosphere their home. Flocks of migratory birds, v's of
> geese against the sky, swallows catching insects, hawks mating on the
> wing, bees carrying pollen, these are all part of the life of the
> atmosphere. In the spring millions of ladybugs ride rising air
> currents up canyons to the high mountains. Plants such as grasses and
> pines rely on the wind for pollination, releasing clouds of tiny
> particles, to the great distress of allergic humans.
>
> The activities of mankind have polluted the atmosphere almost
> everywhere. Forest clearance and overgrazing create smoke and dust.
> Industrial societies live under a blanket of dismal and unhealthful
> haze. Cities with abundant sunshine develop photochemical smog.
> Resorts in mountain valleys may have the smoke from domestic
> fireplaces trapped under an inversion. Famous vistas in national
> parks are now compromised by emissions from remote power plants.
> Conditions of exceptional visibility, when a passing storm has
> cleansed the sky and blown away the smoke and dust, remind us of the
> beauty we have lost.
>
> The atmosphere is in the news these days, as we research and debate
> how we may be changing the world's climate with gases we release into
> the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases from aerosol propellants,
> refrigerants, paint fumes, dry cleaning fluids, and petrochemicals of
> many kinds are culprits. The simple processes of combustion and
> decomposition release carbon dioxide, familiar and unthreatening, and
> yet perhaps the most significant agent in climate change. Could a
> dairy cow be as bad for the environment as a car?
>
> Climate is the long view, the daily conditions are weather. Water and
> heat in the atmosphere, highly variable and dynamic, are the basic
> ingredients of weather. Clouds, rain, snow, fog, heat, cold, and wind
> are what we see and feel. Unusual conditions in the atmosphere create
> drought and floods, storms and gales.
>
> The effects of weather are seen everywhere, in the vegetation, our
> homes, our clothing, our daily work and recreation. Regions with dry
> climates look and function completely differently than areas with wet
> climates. Cold wet days are unpopular, dry sunny days delightful. We
> need weather forecasts constantly, to be prepared for the state of
> the atmosphere. Weather reports often include UV intensity, ozone
> level, and pollen count.
>
> Wind is the atmosphere in motion. It can be destructive when
> excessive, bringing down trees and wires, damaging buildings. But it
> is increasingly being harnessed as a pollution free and sustainable
> source of power, with wind farms being built everywhere. We use the
> wind for recreation too, kites, hang-gliders, parasailers and wind-
> surfers.
>
> Long distance travel over the last century has moved from the
> hydrosphere (the oceans) to the atmosphere. Airports large and small
> are vital infrastructure in developed societies. Aircraft allow
> access to the most inaccessible places on earth, many unreachable in
> any other way. Control of the air is a military priority. The design
> and construction of aircraft of all kinds, from unpowered sailplanes
> to jumbo jets to stealth bombers, challenges our ingenuity and
> imagination.
>
> The atmosphere is sometimes used in unusual ways. Searchlights and
> lasers trace patterns on it, agile aircraft write messages on it,
> blimps carry advertising over sporting events. Skyscrapers form
> distinctive and famous skylines. Jets leave contrails, a human
> imprint on the sky.
>
> There is another meaning of atmosphere, denoting the "pervading tone
> or mood of a place, situation, or work of art". We say that a place
> has atmosphere because it carries with it suggestions of other times,
> other places, of feelings and moods. Restaurants, bars and other
> social spaces make great use of this sort of atmosphere, cultivating
> it or inventing it. Every culture has its own varieties of
> atmosphere, from classic British pubs to wild west saloons, ritzy to
> Bohemian, class to crass. It is a subtle thing, we know it when we
> encounter it, but it may be hard to photograph.
>
> To create panoramas on the theme atmosphere: look up, shoot cubic.
> Wait and watch for the weather, for when the atmosphere becomes
> visible with moisture or pollutants. Look for creatures of the air
> and mankind in the air. Think about what we are doing to the
> atmosphere, and what the atmosphere does to us and for us.
>
>
Caroling Geary, www.wholeo.net