Without the life giving light and radiation from our Sun there is a good possibility that none of you would be reading this story. Yes, all of us, if we were alive would now be living near a thermal vent at the bottom of an ocean and doing who knows what.
Then again, Mankind did evolve and we are part of the Human Race. We, like the other living things on our Earth, depend on the life giving light and the radiation from our Sun. That energy from our Sun helps to grow the food we eat and it warms our homes and it warms our bodies when we are exposed to direct sunlight.
During my life the warmth of the Sun has put many smiles on my face and it also caused many sunburns that I received in years gone by. Worse yet, since Mankind has nearly destroyed the ozone layer that protects all living things, truly harmful UV rays now cause cancer and the increased UV radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface has also genetically altered many other forms of life. Some say that the event is also a contributor to global warming.
Our fun in the Sun is now restricted by the application of sunscreen and the wearing of hats and sunglasses. as an additional portection from those UV rays. So, my trips to the outdoors amount to being greased up and hiding my physical appearance like a spy who travels incognito. I surely don’t want to get skin cancer just because I like to walk around in the sunlight.
Being an out going and a fun loving person who enjoys meeting people and talking to all kinds of people, I really enjoy those walks out doors. Now however, people take one look at me and assume that I’m some kind of a weirdo. As it happens, those are the people who will probably get skin cancer and maybe even suffer and die years before their natural time comes to pass away.
In the meantime, I do look like a weirdo, but it is better to be safe than sorry. You see, the scale for the amount of UV radiation that does reach our Earth is clearly inadequate to describe the radiation level at any particular time during daylight hours. When the UV index is reported to be 10+ at times something is clearly wrong somewhere.
Believe it or not, that UV radiation increase is also responsible for lower crop yields or even crop failures in some parts of our World. Yes, there is some truth in the fact that too much of a good thing can be bad.
In places on our Earth where ice and snow covers the surface all year, such is no longer the case in some of those places. Recently it was discovered that the ice and snow is rapidly melting in the most unlikely places. Will Mankind bask in the sunshine at the North Pole or will mankind simply die away before that life changing event?
