Sunshine and Birthrates

Is Climate Affecting Global Birth Rates? New Study Says Yes!

The sun's rays may not be the best thing happening if you want children: High levels of sunlight may actually increase infant mortality and shorten the average lifespan of certain populations, a new study finds.

Researchers in Norway heading the team was researcher Gine Roll Skjaervo who took a look at people in Norway who were born over a one hundred year period, and compared those who were born during years of peak solar activity with those born during years of the lowest levels of solar activity. Her team discovered that Norwegians born during solar peaks lived 5.2 to 10 years less than individuals born in years with the lowest solar activity.

It is well documented that peak solar activity brings higher levels of ultraviolet radiation to Earth, and evidence suggests that UV radiation may increase infant mortality by degrading folic acid, or vitamin B9, which is important for the rapid cell division and growth that happen during pregnancy. Many pregnant women find their levels of melanin rise during pregnancy. Some women can develop dark patches on their face and hormonal changes can make your skin especially on the abdomen and breasts a little darker This is called ' 'melasma' or the 'mask of pregnancy...This is common among women with light brown skin who live in regions with high sun exposure. The darkening usually fades over a period of several months after giving birth, though it may last for several years for some women. For many women a dark line that runs down her abdomen appears during pregnancy this is called the linea nigra. These darker patches are caused by high levels of pregnancy hormones in your body , which decrease after you've given birth.

The Melanocytes scientist hypothesize it helps to protect your skin and thus your unborn child against ultraviolet (UV) light. Skin pigmentation is the most important photoprotective factor, since melanin, besides functioning as a broadband UV absorbent, has antioxidant and radical scavenging properties. Besides, many epidemiological studies have shown a lower incidence for skin cancer in individuals with darker skin compared to those with fair skin. This may be the answer as to white populations with brown or darker skin tones are not seeing the drastic reduction in births and rise in skin cancer deaths. In the U.S., more than 9,500 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every day. More than two people die of the disease every hour. Of that number almost 8,000 will die every year and the number has been steadily rising for over a decade.

Former President Barack Obama often referred to climate change as the “greatest threat to future generations,” and new research suggests it could even threaten the inception of future generations. In 2010 UCLA professor Alan Barreca, who teaches sustainability and has a background in economics, studied 80 years of U.S. birth data and concluded that if the Earth continues to warm as projected, human birth rates will drop dramatically sadly 10 years later we find he was correct.

But what does this mean for an ecosystem where we see increased temperature, UV radiation and longer periods of hot weather every year? Dr Barreca explained a decade ago what we could expect to see but no one was willing to listen, “What I did,” Barreca said, “was compile a vast amount of historical birth records in the United States going back to 1930, looked at periods of unusual or atypical hot weather and asked, ‘What happened to the birth rates nine months later?'”

What he found was a considerable decline. “That’s concerning because hot weather is bad for our health, and it looks like it could be bad for our reproductive capabilities,” Barreca said one critical issue facing developed nations is that birth rates already are extremely low. Especially in the absence of immigration, he said, populations of many developed nations can’t be sustained, which will have drastic effects on their economy and workforce as the elderly will be forced to continue working without a young population to replace them...“What that means is that our populations are going to grow older and older, and they are going to shrink in the absence of immigration,” Mr. Barreca said. “One immediate concern with an older population is that the tax base shrinks, and that affects our ability to afford health care in the future because there’s less younger, healthier workers paying taxes...If you don’t care about an increase of risk of death for the elderly or decrease in the economy, because the heat makes it harder to work outside, you might care … that it might be harder to have children in the future.

”Climate change deniers say “we don’t care about the environment, statistically the world could afford to lose a few people.” Somehow they think the losses in population will come from the third world as they have bought the propaganda that everyone is starving if they don’t come from the West. But in actuality in world demographics it's the west and parts of Asia that has the smallest and fastest shrinking populations. According to the UN's latest forecast, issued just a few weeks ago, it appears that the world population is around 7.2 billion, and is on course to exceed 9.6 billion by 2050 and 10.9 billion by the end of the century. And as for the U.S. The UN projects that America's population, currently 320 million, will rise to 400 million by mid-century and 462 million by 2100. Simultaneously they tell us that America and European nations are all unable to sustain their European ancestry populations. This has caused a lot of angst among neo conservatives who fear becoming a minority because of how they have historically treated minorities in their respective countries. Demographically speaking the share of the white population fell from 63.7% in 2010 to 56.8% in 2020, the lowest on record. What is undeniable is that The U.S. birth rate has fallen by 20% since 2007 and all demographic groups have grown or remained the same except one. So this decline cannot be explained by demographic, economic, or policy changes.

The main difference when considering UV effects on human reproduction is the ability to absorb the radiation without a detrimental effect to the body. Season and vitamin D are indirectly correlates of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and are associated with pregnancy outcomes. Further to producing vitamin D, UV has positive effects on cardiovascular and immune health that support a role for UV as beneficial for pregnancy. For people of fair complexion it is recommended that ten minutes of an exposed arm or leg in sunlight between 10am and 3pm daily is sufficient sunlight. For eumelanated women the recommendation is 10 minutes in the sun 2 to three times daily. Because despite climate change the sun has many benefits to offer. We already know that being in the sun lowers a person's blood pressure, as well as their risk of heart disease. Scientists now think that this is not to do with Vitamin D, which we also get from sunlight. Instead, it could be a direct effect of sunlight on the skin.

In fact, sunlight may do even more: sunlight during pregnancy might help lower the chance of problems with the placenta. Something that has been caused by many hair products with phthalates and endocrine disruptors, especially black hair products with straighteners!