3/19/2024 0 Comments Colors of autumn 94 appreciation![]() ![]() In Europe, the site of the longest continuous study of vegetation color, a delayed autumn is the main cause of an increase in the length of the growing season. Color changes are happening later in autumn across the Northern Hemisphere: Between 19 about 70 percent of the land surface had delayed autumnal color changes. The rhythm of the seasonal colors of the remaining forests are also awry. In the first dozen years of this millennium, LandSat's unwavering visual examination of the Earth's colors shows that the Earth lost 2.3 million square kilometers of forest, but only 0.8 million regrew. This is the technological complement to our Earth-bound leaf wonder, a practice that yields both beautiful images and useful knowledge.Īwesome though the view from space is, the news from aloft is not good. Instruments on the satellites measure not only visible light, but also colors beyond what the unaided human eye can detect, especially " near infrared." Healthy plant leaves reflect a lot of near infrared, so measuring this color lets us assess plant growth and vitality from afar. LandSat, Sentinel, and other satellites scribe regular paths around our planet and, as they fly, scan the whole surface of the Earth with their lenses. With the help of space rockets, we now have the most elevated views of forests possible: from orbits around the Earth. The most wonderful views of the forest are often from an elevated position, from overlooks and escarpments. Awe and wonder lead us to meaning, not to diversion or titillation. Instead of leaf peeping, perhaps we Americans should speak of autumnal awe or leaf wonder. The wide cultural range of leaf-viewing reflects common human response to the temperate forest's colors. Likewise, the autumnal temperate forests of northern China have inspired shangye (赏叶), the reward or appreciation of leaves, and some parks receive millions of shangye visitors every year. My friends there tell me that this is a time to connect with both landscape and traveling companions. In South Korea, dan pung ku gyeong (단풍 구경) means a purposeful look at the changing colors of leaves. ![]() The life of the forest is thus built into both religious and everyday connections among people. On the sacred island of Miyajima, maples framed the view of torii gates and shrines, and visitors returned to the mainland with leaf-themed gifts for colleagues and family. In my travels in Japan in autumn, even the fast-food lunch boxes at train stations had decorative maple leaves nestled into the rice. This is a practice deeply woven into the fabric of culture. In Japan, momijigari (紅葉狩), an "excursion for hunting of autumn leaves," is part of the annual cycle of awareness of the rhythms of life's community. Other cultures also have traditions of autumn leaf viewing, especially cultures in the range of the maple-rich temperate forests. Peep is not the right word for a celebration of forests. And although the "peep show" started in the 18th and 19th centuries as a family-friendly viewing of landscapes and city scenes through stereoscopes and boite d'optique, the term now refers to a commodified, dissociated sexual gaze. Peeping Toms violate the "other" being viewed. Leaf-peeping? To peep is to cast a furtive glance. These are the colors of home, the visual manifestation of the ecosystems in which we live. In western mountains and the north woods, larch and aspen gild the evergreen. But the changing hues of leaves also hold our attention on city streets where colors of ginkgo and oak enliven asphalt's gray. This is the native range of maple, sourwood, oak, and ash, the botanical fireworks of temperate forests. Leaf-peeping is most well-known along the spine of the Appalachians, from New England to the Smoky Mountains. We clog rural roads and infuse tourist cash into local economies. Our aesthetic affinity for leaf colors finds one expression in the phenomenon known in the United States as "leaf-peeping." Suburbanites and city-dwellers flock to forested areas to soak our eyes in the delights of the season. ![]()
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