Is the U.S. just too far south for light-skinned people?

Great Debates
1

Considering that the majority of the US population is of European descent, the following is rather astonishing when you first look at it on a map:

Scandinavia, where the lightest skinned Europeans come from, is in the same latitude range as Alaska.

Britain is as far north as Labrador.

The northernmost continental states, Washington to Minnesota and Maine, are at the same latitude as central France.

The southernmost part of Europe, southern Spain, Sicily and Greece, are at the same latitude as North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Florida and southern Texas are at the same latitude range as Egypt and the Persian Gulf.

Maybe it was working in the noontime sun today until I was nearly sick, but with the heat and the danger of skin cancer, I’m wondering if European-descended people are really cut out to live here in the US.

2

I’ve been living in Florida a long time. I never sunbathe, but I make no particular effort to avoid the sun either. And dermatologists have told me my face is mildly and permanently “sun-damaged.” Which might not have happened if I didn’t live here.

3

Ever heard of the Gulf Stream? It has an ever-so-slight effect on European climate…

4

But not on exposure to solar radiation.

At any rate, I guess you could say that we’re better off, overall, than Australia. OTOH, how big a deal is it wear sunscreen when you’re out in the sun for long periods of time in the summer?

5

Luckily, modern inventions such as enclosed buildings have made this less of an issue than it might have been otherwise.

6

They seem to be managing fine.

7

With MY skin type I think the artic circle might be too far south.

Actually, most caucasians do have the capacity to tan which, despite the aging effects, IS the body’s way of increasing its resistance to damaging UV light. Anyhow, a lot of light-skinned people have been wearing clothes for a long time, which compensates for the light skin.

Retaining light skin, despite the skin cancer risk, has the benefit of making such things as ricketts less likely. Since ricketts strike early and are crippling, and until this past 100-150 years most folks didn’t live long enough to develop skin cancer, or die of it if they did, it wasn’t as much of a factor.

8

Yeah, ISTR that the opposite danger of ricketts was not skin cancer but rather Vitamin D poisoning.

9

Actually, the reason dark skin is advantageous in lower latitudes is because of folic acid - too much UV breaks it down folic acid in the body. I doubt a light skin person could get Vitamin D poisoning merely from sun exposure; they would end up with debilitating sun burns first.