The rest of the world should follow the example of the Australians to protect children from skin cancer. They require that children wear sunglasses, hats, and long sleeves and cover their legs when they come to school. They have more reason to do this than the rest of the world, since the Antarctic hole in the ozone layer is larger than the Arctic one. Their hole in the ozone layer passes over them, exposing them to completely unfiltered ultraviolet light. Their residents therefore get more skin cancer.
It is much less expensive to prevent skin cancer than to deal with it after you have it. UVA and UVB blocking sunglasses can be found at reasonable prices. If one has a very low clothing budget it is possible to find some to protect from skin cancer through thrift stores and garage sales. Many charities even provide clothing free for those who need it.
It is understandable to wish to avoid thinking about unpleasant subjects, but whwn you have fairly easy solutions to a problem, you can take care of your problem and forget about it.
I already mentioned suggestions by dermatologists groups to stay out of the sun during midday as much as possible. Most dermatologists suggest the hours to avoid sunlight as between 10 am and 2 pm. If you have to be out during this time they suggest that you stay in the shade as much as you can.
Noontime recesses for schools are a bad idea since we thinned out our ozone layer. It is time we dealt with exposing children to harm this way. A simple way this could be approached would be to shorten the noon recess and split the extra time between the other two shorter recesses. Making more shade for children to stay in when they are outdoors would cost more, but it is still cheaper than medical care for skin cancer.
I have seen inspiring videos of community groups who built playgrounds for children. There is no reason people cannot get together and add shade to playgrounds. Many parks offer roofed areas for picnics, so the same could be done for playgrounds, both at schools and parks.
Changing the way people think is difficult to do, but the motivation of protecting children from a very real danger of skin cancer and its consequences should be a good one.
I ran across something similar to this problem when I lived in a large city in California. The name of the city was Fresno, and it had a large park area with multiple baseball fields in it. Little League playoffs were conducted at that field, near where I lived.
Smog alerts were a feature of every summer in Fresno. The smog alerts included warnings to stay inside and curtail outdoor activities, especially strenuous ones. People were warned that this applied even more to children, elderly, and people with respiratory problems. People would occasionally drop dead on the street, when they ignored such warnings.
I was horrified to see the large baseball field park swarming with children competing in Little League Playoffs during a particularly bad smog alert. They had postponed Little League Playoffs because of a few raindrops at the same park a few years earlier. I was disappointed with a lack of response to an article I wrote for a local paper, so I tried contacting administrators for the Little League. It took some work to get any response at all. A major excuse for ignoring smog alerts for playoffs was that adults had priority on scheduling baseball games at that park, so the kids had to take whatever they could get. I pointed out that rescheduling had been done because of rain, which is much less harmful to children than the smog during an alert.
A more receptive person from the Little League explained the problem and dangers to the children of doing strenuous exercise in heavy smog to their adult league counterparts. The adult league was very cooperative, so the problem was apparently solved then.
Even adults who are not parents will go out of their way to help protect children, so if we start changing our thinking and behavior to protect children, we can do it more easily. It is time for us to start a change in our thinking about skin cancer protection for ourselves and our posterity.
It is much less expensive to prevent skin cancer than to deal with it after you have it. UVA and UVB blocking sunglasses can be found at reasonable prices. If one has a very low clothing budget it is possible to find some to protect from skin cancer through thrift stores and garage sales. Many charities even provide clothing free for those who need it.
It is understandable to wish to avoid thinking about unpleasant subjects, but whwn you have fairly easy solutions to a problem, you can take care of your problem and forget about it.
I already mentioned suggestions by dermatologists groups to stay out of the sun during midday as much as possible. Most dermatologists suggest the hours to avoid sunlight as between 10 am and 2 pm. If you have to be out during this time they suggest that you stay in the shade as much as you can.
Noontime recesses for schools are a bad idea since we thinned out our ozone layer. It is time we dealt with exposing children to harm this way. A simple way this could be approached would be to shorten the noon recess and split the extra time between the other two shorter recesses. Making more shade for children to stay in when they are outdoors would cost more, but it is still cheaper than medical care for skin cancer.
I have seen inspiring videos of community groups who built playgrounds for children. There is no reason people cannot get together and add shade to playgrounds. Many parks offer roofed areas for picnics, so the same could be done for playgrounds, both at schools and parks.
Changing the way people think is difficult to do, but the motivation of protecting children from a very real danger of skin cancer and its consequences should be a good one.
I ran across something similar to this problem when I lived in a large city in California. The name of the city was Fresno, and it had a large park area with multiple baseball fields in it. Little League playoffs were conducted at that field, near where I lived.
Smog alerts were a feature of every summer in Fresno. The smog alerts included warnings to stay inside and curtail outdoor activities, especially strenuous ones. People were warned that this applied even more to children, elderly, and people with respiratory problems. People would occasionally drop dead on the street, when they ignored such warnings.
I was horrified to see the large baseball field park swarming with children competing in Little League Playoffs during a particularly bad smog alert. They had postponed Little League Playoffs because of a few raindrops at the same park a few years earlier. I was disappointed with a lack of response to an article I wrote for a local paper, so I tried contacting administrators for the Little League. It took some work to get any response at all. A major excuse for ignoring smog alerts for playoffs was that adults had priority on scheduling baseball games at that park, so the kids had to take whatever they could get. I pointed out that rescheduling had been done because of rain, which is much less harmful to children than the smog during an alert.
A more receptive person from the Little League explained the problem and dangers to the children of doing strenuous exercise in heavy smog to their adult league counterparts. The adult league was very cooperative, so the problem was apparently solved then.
Even adults who are not parents will go out of their way to help protect children, so if we start changing our thinking and behavior to protect children, we can do it more easily. It is time for us to start a change in our thinking about skin cancer protection for ourselves and our posterity.
