Harold R. Hay: Solar Pioneer
(Page 13 of 17)
September/October 1976
By Mother Earth News Editors
HAY: Yes. I think that the polar bear is white—at least in part—so that what sunlight falls on its body will reflect down through the animal's coat and finally convert itself into heat well down in under the insulating hair. This allows the bear to stay warm during some seasons while converting less of the food it eats directly into heat energy. It can then store more of that food in the form of fat for use as body heat during the winter. In short, the polar bear's white coat allows it to survive on less food than if that coat were some other color.
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PLOWBOY: That theory makes sense as far as hair and the coats of animals go. But what about skin pigment. Why are Negroes black and Nordics so light complexioned?
HAY: Because we're all just as we should be. Because our ancestors adapted supremely well to the conditions they faced for generation after generation.
The Negro is black because his ancestors would have developed skin cancer if their bodies hadn't learned to turn the enormous quantities of the sun's rays they received into heat energy right at the skin's surface. The excess heat was then dissipated by evaporative cooling. The Nordic, on the other hand, grew up—generation after generation—with far less exposure to the sun. He needed to convert much more of the small amounts of ultraviolet light he received into vitamin D if he was to stay healthy. So his skin became very thin and contained hardly any pigment. His skin became a very efficient converter of ultraviolet into vitamin D.
PLOWBOY: It's just a matter of adaptation then.
HAY: Just natural adaptation to the sun. And once you realize that, you begin to forget the arbitrary distinctions of race that we carry around in our heads and our hearts and you start to have a greater appreciation for the brotherhood of all mankind,
PLOWBOY: Well there are some other ramifications, of course ... about who should live where and that sort of thing.
HAY: Of course! Very light-complexioned people suffer more skin cancer when they move to the tropics. When Negroes first went to Chicago in large numbers during the 30's, a tremendous number of them—something, I believe, on the order of 90% of those who moved—developed rickets. They simply hadn't adapted yet to the small amounts of ultraviolet light they received up there.
The whole field of research has become institutionalized. . . a chummy club of back-scratchers who publicize each other.
Now, this is no reflection on one or the other. But I'm very light. Nature has designed me to live in a more northerly climate. Darkskinned people are designed to live closer to the equator. We might be a wiser species if we'd make at least an effort to do what nature has evolved us to do.
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