Dangers of the sun

Dangers of the sun

The sun which is circled by our earth is not just any star. Its light, which is giving us the warmth to live and lets the flowers bloom, is the basis to all live on this world. But does the sun have no disadvantages at all? No! Even if the light of our sun is very important, it can also be a great threat for flora and fauna.

Dangers for plants

Forest fires

One danger that needs to be taken seriously of the sun are forest fires, which are responsible for death of many plants, animals and even humans. For that matter, a dry leaf can catch fire pretty easily in a dry session for example, which will result in deadly flames eventually burning down whole forests. But also mankind itself can trigger fires by simply being unwary. Let alone one bottle being left in the woods, because of the refraction a flame can easily incinerate. The results are not just a couple of plants dying; many animals like deer or birds cant rescue themselves from the brutal flames and die. Because of that, a major part of our nature gets lost and dies out. Between 1993 until 2013 the German institute for ecology reported that there are approximately 1044 forest fires per year, leaving over 533 hectares of woods dying. “Der Spiegel” reported at the 2nd of December 2012 from Haifa, Israel how a lot of humans died because of a forest fire. Trying to save 500 prisoners, about 40 people died, with the majority being guards. Even though mankind tries to avoid forest fires as much as possible, the catastrophy is sometimes unavoidable.

Drought

Forest fires aren’t the single outcomes of the superior incident solar radiation. The drying of the plants and groundin lots of areas in the world threaten the vegetation. But how do it work? Often the problem is, that the proportion between solar radiation and rain isn’t balanced. The sun evaporate the water of the plants, by what those are going to be useless. That’s a big problem for farmers, who have than crop failures and financial losings.

How can you protect your plants?

There are different types, how you can protect your plants from droughts. One of them is for example the drip irrigation. There you have to place some pipes, which lose by dint of pumps dropwise water at the roots of the plants. This kind of methode is very popular, because it needn’t a lot of water. Another way is the spray-irrigation system. In this methode machines spray the fields like rain. But there are the energy cost like the evaporation very high.

You can try to save dried plants, as you eliminate the dried leaves and spill the plant regular again. But you have to observance, that you don’t water them to much, because dried plants can not absorb water as well as before.

Sunburn at plants

Another danger for plants that is caused by the sun is a sunburn. This may seem a bit surprising, because a sunburn is something we associate with us humans. Plants are relieing on sunlight, but never the less it is possible for plants to suffer from a sunburn. But this is mostly something only plants have to experience wich are especially vulnerable to the sunlight. But once a plant is having a sunburn it can cause heavy damage and can even cause the death of the plant.

It is also posilble for plants to get a sunburn but it does not show itself by the skin of the plant turning red but the leaves and the fruits will get a brownish colour. This happens because the sun is taking away the plants moisture , which is very important for the survival of the plant, and by destroying the cells of the plant.

But there are methods to protect your plants from a sunburn. For starters it is important that the plants which have been inside the house over the winter are not being exposed to the sun immediatly. At first you have to put them in the shadow and after some time you can expose them to the sun at the morning an the evening. After doing this for 2-3weeks you can begin to expose them to the sunlight the whole time. Another way to protect your plants is by giving them a lot of water. This is espacially important for plants that you cannot put through the procedure wich was discribed earlier, for example gras.

The distinction of plant species’

The sun also harms some rare plant species’, which results in some being lost forever. Reasons for that are for example dry sessions, as shown before. Extreme high temperature is to blame for many plants losing their living place. Since many plants can not find a suitable floor to live or die directly by flames, some plants are distinct and can never be recovered by mankind. Some examples of plants in harms way are the flame adonis or the chunk anemone, which will most likely not exist in the future anymore.

Mankind is currently trying to save as many plants as possible by storing seeds by below zero temperature. The most famous example is the seed vault in Norway, where many plants are conserved by ice.

Dangers for the human

Temporary damage

Sunburn

The sun also poses a great danger for us humans. The damage which is caused by the sun can be temporary and permanent. One of these temporary damages is one which is well known to all of us, the sunburn. A sunburn is a inflammation of the skin, caused by to much UV-radiation. There are three degrees of sunburns. The first degree is a light sunburn which makes it self noticeable by letting the skin appear slightly red colour. Other symptoms are that the skin is too hot, itching and burning.

The second degree of a sunburn has the same symptoms but it is possible that there are blisters and the skin is flacking off.

The third degree of a sunburn can be put on the same level as a regular burning off the skin, where the first layer of the skin is destroyed and it is possible that scars will remain. If a bigger portion of the skin is affected by a it is possible for a fever and even more symptoms to appear.

Because of all these symptoms it is important to secure oneself against too much sunlight. You can do this , for example, by wearing the right clothes or by using the right sunblocker. Another posibillity is to avoid the sun at noon (12-15 o’clock), because the intenisty of the sunlight is at its peak at this time and the risk of getting a sunburn is very high.

Circulatory Disorder

Another great danger for humanity because of the sun are the extreme temperatures of it. The heat my cause a circulatory disorder because of the body losing to much water by sweating, resulting in a dangerously low blood pressure. First symptoms are nausea or dizziness or in the worst cases losing consciousness. However, one can avoid named dangers by simply wearing a hat protecting the head for the sun and by drinking a sufficient amount of liquid. If one notices early symptoms, he immediately has to move in the shadow and drink at least half a liter. In worst case scenarios an ambulance hast to be called. Examples of how dangerous heat can be are some cases in which children or pets are forgotten in the car leaving them to lose consciousness or even die.

Permanent damage

Skin cancer

Above-average solar radiation is a danger for the human, too. It can lead to permanent damage like skin cancer. There are two different types of skin cancer, the so-called black skin cancer (malignes Melanom) and the white or pale skin cancer (Basaliom, Spinaliom or aktinische Keratose). The different types develop in different cells and and can have different reasons for the becoming. Mostly the reason is a intensive and long-lasting solar radiation on unprotected skin. The UV-radiation can damage the genotype of the cells, which increase through cell division. The defense system of the body can defeat such cells very well, but sometimes a cell survive and it becomes a cancer. 

To avoid skin cancer, you should of course steer clear of an excessive solar radiation, for example with a sunscreen, wearing long clothes. Especially children should be protected very well, because sunburns in the childhood increase the risk of black skin cancer. You should be regularly checked from a doctor, to find skin cancer very early. People with a pale skin or lots of birthmarks shall often do skinscreening.

The black skin cancer can be surgically removed or, if the tumor can’t be removed with a surgery, radiotherapy can be used. The white skin cancer can be removed in lots of ways, the current methods are radiotherapy, chemotherapy or a frosttherapy. The chance of an healing is very high.

Danger for the eyes

Not only the skin can be permanently damaged, but also, with an unguarded look in the sun, the eyes. Already after a short time, the retina (not your display on your smartphone) can be damaged so much, that you can’t see anymore. That the eye can be damaged is known since 1912, after a solar eclipse 3000 humans had to go to the doctor.

Chronically eye damage are transformation of the cornea and conjunctiva, for example Pinguecula and Pterygium through UV-radiation.

The energy oft he UV-radiation let burn out the cornea and destois the ability oft he vision. The retina, especially the macula can be damaged so strong, that it developes to a macula-degeneration (retina detachement), which leads to blindness. The blindless arises from the fact, that the light is focused by the eye on the macula.

A further problem for eyes caused by the sun is, that the sun causes photodynamic oxidativ processes, which may cause a fading of the lens (cataract). Symptoms of the disease are blurred vision and deterioration of vision.

However, most of people protect themselves only with sun lotion against sunburn and skin cancer, but they should also be carefull with the most important sense organ and defend from the sun like they do with their skins.

At the end there is only one thing left to say: the sun is not just giving live, but is also threatening and even destroying it. It is important that these threats are not just taken lightly but are being taken serious. Sunrays can damage our body so badly, that our ability to live a normal live is reduced. So it is important to never forget about what a big source of danger the sun can be and that we have to protect us from these threats.

P-Seminar Waldkraiburg