What spectacular sunsets tell us

We had some spectacular sunsets last week. In this photo, the CN Tower in Toronto looms over the Rogers Centre under an orange-red sky.

At about the same time, coverage of the Chicagoland Nascar Sprint Cup race in Joliet, Illinois, paused for some incredible high definition beauty shots of the red sky over the race track.

Talking it over with Duilio Zane (my father and the photographer who took the stills shown here), the question arose whether the sunsets are becoming redder because of a higher concentration of atmospheric pollution.

Scientific American writes that a higher percentage of aerosols, particles suspended in the atmosphere, can result in the scattering of light waves resulting in a predominance of oranges and reds. These particles can arise from the burning of fossil fuels and the release of sulphur dioxide into the air.

So the redness in the sky indeed may be caused by internal combustion engines and their exhaust. However, when pollution is very heavy, the sun appears misty and out-of-focus, not clearly defined as it has been on some recent nights.

The magazine points out that aerosols in the sky can also come from natural sources like forest fires and volcanic eruptions.

Well, neither of those were present in Toronto and Chicago last weekend.

But this brings us to another interesting connection. A team at the Observatory of Athens is studying the paintings of old masters to see if they can learn something from the colours of their sunsets. Specifically they want to learn how natural climate change in the past can be used to build better computer models for the effects of global warming.

In the last century, a huge amount of natural pollution was thrown into the sky by volcanic eruptions like the one that shook Indonesia in 1883 when Mount Krakatoa blew its top. These eruptions changed the colour of the sky for years afterward, and paintings from those periods show a lot of orange and red in the sky. See Edvard Munch's The Scream (1893).

By analyzing the colours and feeding the data into computers, scientists hope to understand a modern effect called "global dimming, " which relates to how increasing pollution paradoxically may be slowing global warming.

No matter how one looks at them, summer sunsets are fascinating phenomena.


For more information see "How old masters are helping study of global warming"

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Photos courtesy of Duilio Zane

A great way to get around

As the price of gasoline has risen, people have been shopping around for alternative forms of transportation, particularly environmentally-friendly ones.

In North America, this summer's big success story has been the growing popularity of the Italian scooter, commonly known as the "Vespa." A lot of people (particularly women, in some markets) are buying the scooter to reduce expenses, limit harmful emissions and generally improve their commuting experience.

It's excellent on fuel consumption...and improvements keep coming. The manufacturer, Piaggio, has just introduced a gasoline-electric hybrid prototype that promises 60 kilometres on a single litre of fuel. (!)

The Vespa won acclaim right from its introduction in Italy in the late 1940s as a sturdy utility motorcycle, and then it became fashionable a decade later when Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn were featured riding together in the film "Roman Holiday."

According to company literature, the Vespa got it's name when company president Enrico Piaggio first saw a finished model, and said, "Sembra una vespa!" ("It looks like a wasp.")


For more information, try these sites:

http://www.vespacanada.com/company/history.cfm

http://www.dolcevita.com/design/vespa/vespa.htm

Vespa photo from http://www.cepolina.com/

Public transportation in Paris

Further to my note in favour of better public transportation, read the item below that appeared in the New York Times in July.

Editorial writer Serge Schmemann describes how the city of Paris is providing incentives for people to use public transportation and bicycles in an effort to reduce automobile congestion and pollution.

The French have adopted novel solutions to problems before, and gridlock is another problem that is attracting special attention.

City officials have made tens of thousands of bicycles available to commuters and have built special lanes for public transit.

These are bold moves that should inspire other municipalities around the world.

Click here to read Schmemann's article called "I Love Paris on a Bus, a Bike, a Train and in Anything but a Car."