Anthropologetic
Things We Forget About the Sun After reading while laying out on my roof in Brooklyn last week, I quickly rediscovered why I enjoy long sleeves in the summer so much.  It also occurred to me that there are many things about the sun we take for granted in our day to day lives (and on a larger scale, the natural world and universe in general, especially those of us in cities). Here are some of the finer, and to me more interesting points that came to mind as I applied numerous coats of aloe to my poor, U-V ray ravaged epidermus (as you read on, it’s obvious I paid attention in basic high school science courses, usually). The light from the sun takes approximately 8 minutes to reach the earth and travels a distance of 92,955,820 miles to get here, and even at that distance little more than an hour outside peak mid-day sun cycle, and it is capable of inflicting 2nd degree burns on unprotected skin (see picture above).  It took me several days to heal from this burn, and I suspect staying out there any longer would have left me cracked and peeling.  The odds of being light skinned like myself and getting skin cancer from sun damage is 1 in 50 in America and each year almost 70,000 new cases of melanoma are reported in the United states alone. Carrying on with the good news, the sun is also to blame for heat stroke and heat exhaustion, both of which were factors in the Chicago heat wave in 1995 that claimed an estimated approximatley 700 peoples lives (the sun did not act alone here however, much of this was due to the layer of thick smog and pollution blanketing Chicago and acting as a gigantic incubator for the city, trapping in the heat for days not allowing the city to cool off even at night). My personal favorite.  We can’t look at the sun.  It is constantly in our sky during the daytime hours (barring any atmospheric disturbances) and is the sole reason we exist on this planet, but we are constantly avoiding eye contact with it. Look at it even for a brief time, and the U-V ray damage to your eyes can leave you with irreperable retina damage and burns to the eyes. Correspondinly,  sunglasses are a 2.9 billion dollar industry. The sheer size and magnitude of the sun is almost incomprehensible. Being such a vast distance away (with currently space travel technology it would take 160 years to reach the sun) and at such great size (333,000 times the mass of the Earth and 99% of all the mass in our solar system, if hollow it could fit almost a million earths inside of it) and extreme heat (11,000 degrees fahrenheit on the surface) it remains the single most important aspect of our solar system, allowing photosynthesis to take place on Earth almost 3 billion years ago from crude cyanobacteria which lead to the creation of ozone, atmosophere and the air we breath today. Cars with tinted windows, windows shades, sun screen (because you can’t go out in the summer without having to “protect” yourself from the sun), air conditioners, pools, hats with brims, you name it, all conceived to cope with our lives with the sun.  The point isn’t that the sun is evil, but that with just a little inspection it’s clear the universe was not made specifically to be a gift for humans at all, and as such it is clear why so many cultures invented myths and religions (and the new religions, consumerism and entertainment media) to take their minds off of a world that so obviously didn’t want them around if it could help it ( maybe I have been reading too much Vonnegut latley). Still, the universe remains not a place to fear or drive people to irrational, illogical beliefs, but something to inspire awe and wonder at such a complex, endlessly interesting existence that we have the good fortune of all species to be able to sit and reflect upon.  Now with that, I am going to get off this computer and get some sun.  I’ll leave you with some beautiful images of the sun from The Big Picture blog on boston.com, enjoy, wear sunscreen. The SUN.

Things We Forget About the Sun

After reading while laying out on my roof in Brooklyn last week, I quickly rediscovered why I enjoy long sleeves in the summer so much.  It also occurred to me that there are many things about the sun we take for granted in our day to day lives (and on a larger scale, the natural world and universe in general, especially those of us in cities). Here are some of the finer, and to me more interesting points that came to mind as I applied numerous coats of aloe to my poor, U-V ray ravaged epidermus (as you read on, it’s obvious I paid attention in basic high school science courses, usually).

  • The light from the sun takes approximately 8 minutes to reach the earth and travels a distance of 92,955,820 miles to get here, and even at that distance little more than an hour outside peak mid-day sun cycle, and it is capable of inflicting 2nd degree burns on unprotected skin (see picture above).  It took me several days to heal from this burn, and I suspect staying out there any longer would have left me cracked and peeling.  The odds of being light skinned like myself and getting skin cancer from sun damage is 1 in 50 in America and each year almost 70,000 new cases of melanoma are reported in the United states alone.
  • Carrying on with the good news, the sun is also to blame for heat stroke and heat exhaustion, both of which were factors in the Chicago heat wave in 1995 that claimed an estimated approximatley 700 peoples lives (the sun did not act alone here however, much of this was due to the layer of thick smog and pollution blanketing Chicago and acting as a gigantic incubator for the city, trapping in the heat for days not allowing the city to cool off even at night).
  • My personal favorite.  We can’t look at the sun.  It is constantly in our sky during the daytime hours (barring any atmospheric disturbances) and is the sole reason we exist on this planet, but we are constantly avoiding eye contact with it. Look at it even for a brief time, and the U-V ray damage to your eyes can leave you with irreperable retina damage and burns to the eyes. Correspondinly,  sunglasses are a 2.9 billion dollar industry.
  • The sheer size and magnitude of the sun is almost incomprehensible. Being such a vast distance away (with currently space travel technology it would take 160 years to reach the sun) and at such great size (333,000 times the mass of the Earth and 99% of all the mass in our solar system, if hollow it could fit almost a million earths inside of it) and extreme heat (11,000 degrees fahrenheit on the surface) it remains the single most important aspect of our solar system, allowing photosynthesis to take place on Earth almost 3 billion years ago from crude cyanobacteria which lead to the creation of ozone, atmosophere and the air we breath today.

Cars with tinted windows, windows shades, sun screen (because you can’t go out in the summer without having to “protect” yourself from the sun), air conditioners, pools, hats with brims, you name it, all conceived to cope with our lives with the sun.  The point isn’t that the sun is evil, but that with just a little inspection it’s clear the universe was not made specifically to be a gift for humans at all, and as such it is clear why so many cultures invented myths and religions (and the new religions, consumerism and entertainment media) to take their minds off of a world that so obviously didn’t want them around if it could help it ( maybe I have been reading too much Vonnegut latley). Still, the universe remains not a place to fear or drive people to irrational, illogical beliefs, but something to inspire awe and wonder at such a complex, endlessly interesting existence that we have the good fortune of all species to be able to sit and reflect upon.  Now with that, I am going to get off this computer and get some sun.  I’ll leave you with some beautiful images of the sun from The Big Picture blog on boston.com, enjoy, wear sunscreen.

The SUN.

Posted 4 months ago