(Inspired by a DVD
series produced by the BBC: Human Planet)
In the northernmost region of the world
known as the Arctic Circle, the Inuit natives of Greenland know how to dress
for the extreme cold. They wear thick,
warm, leak-proof sealskin fur coats with big hoods, and warm fur boots. In this kind of extreme-cold outdoor gear,
they aren’t likely to get cold any time soon.
They do this because once a year, during December and the first half of
January, the sun disappears completely from the horizon. It does not rise in the sky at all for almost
eight weeks. That means it won’t
reappear for the next 54 days. It’s dark
and cold all the time, day and night.
People still do their daily activities
though: going to work if they’re adults
or to school if they’re kids. They do
everything in the dark. There are electric
lights on, inside and out, but sunlight is nowhere to be found. It doesn’t come back until the sun rises
again on January 13th. Nobody
likes living in the dark, but there is no choice. By the 13th of January, everyone
is so glad to see the sun again that the whole village celebrates its return by
singing songs together about the sun shining on their souls. The Inuit people truly appreciate the sun’s
light and warmth as a blessing, especially in the high Arctic. They
know firsthand what being without it is like.
Can you imagine what it would be like to
never see the sun again, ever? Could you
live in an artificially lit environment?
The closest we’ve come in southern Ontario is living for three to four
months in partial darkness; it’s dark when we get up and go to work at 6:30 am
and it’s dark by the time we get home again at 5:30 pm. On the shortest day of the year, December 21st,
daylight lasts for only ten hours, tops.
Unless we go outside at lunch-time, we won’t see much of the sun at all
during late fall and early winter. This
time period usually lasts from mid-November till about the end of February each
year. So, when the sun starts showing a
hint of sunrise before 6:30 am, only then do we start to become more cheerful and
positive and start to rejoice in its presence.
This yearly cycle of darkness begins
with the end of daylight saving time at the end of October till the beginning
of daylight saving time at the end of the first week of March. By the time we start to see the sunrise
again, we naturally become more cheerful.
The sun brightens up our lives considerably, not just physically, but
mentally. Where would we be without
sunshine? Do you want to live in a world
without sunshine?
People like geologists have been doing
experiments to see if life on Mars is possible.
To what end? Call it incurable
curiosity if you wish. After all, human
beings are explorers by nature. Geologists
have been trying to extract water from rock to see if any heat exists below the
surface of the planet. Extracting water
from rock is not impossible on Earth. It
happens when old riverbeds naturally dry up and become deserts over a long, long
time. If push came to shove, would you want to live on Mars given the
opportunity even though you’d probably have to live in a bubble, a kind of artificial
world that has no natural sunlight? Life for humans might be possible on Mars
if and only if life on Earth becomes impossible, but would you do it?
While watching the BBC’s “Human Planet”,
I’ve thought about this possibility a lot.
This DVD series is about how human beings have coped and survived in
different, often hostile habitats here on Earth and succeeded in carving out
lives for themselves. For example, in
the jungles of New Guinea, sunlight is present for twelve hours a day each and
every day of the year. Life of all kinds
thrives there as a result. Incredibly, humans
still have survival challenges there, but lack of sunlight is never a problem
in this particular habitat.
Would you give up having natural
sunlight as part of your everyday life?
I, personally, would hope neither my descendants nor I ever have to make
the choice to leave Earth so that we can live on Mars. In fact, I hope to be dead of old age long
before that time. But, what will happen
to my son, grandson, nieces, nephews, and their children? Maybe it’s premature to worry about such a
catastrophic event, but then again, maybe it’s not.
Our climate on Earth is changing as we
speak, due to global warming trends.
More deserts are forming every year and they already take up 1/3 of
Earth’s land surface. Oceans take up 70
percent of Earth’s total surface, and the oceans have been steadily rising. That leaves practically no land that will
still be habitable for humans. I don’t
know if global warming can be stopped or slowed down, but I’m sure that our
climate is changing and not necessarily for the better. Yes, we are trying to change our
environmentally destructive ways, and yes, I think it does help to implement energy
conservation measures, but is it going to be enough? A world without sunshine (for example, on
Mars) is not a world I ever want to live in.
The “greenhouse effect” caused by global warming is an issue that, if
not significantly checked, will change all of our lives forever.
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier - to be published in book format in the future (hard cover, soft cover, e-book / audio book)
No comments:
Post a Comment