What many of you probably won't know is that I did a Geography Degree at University and whilst I don't do anything relating to geography in my work life, I am still a Geography Geek at heart and certainly in my spare time! That's why when I came across this geographical statement which related to bald heads, I absolutely had to share it with you all :-)
Going Bald reduces your carbon footprint and offsets Artic Ice Loss.
The original article states that in a leaked IPCC document (Intergovernmental Policy on Climate Change) they advocate bald heads as a key factor in reducing climate change! How can that be I hear you ask, well let me explain...!
Taking human impact out of the equation, the planet regulates its own temperature through a number of nifty manoeuvres, including one called The Albedo Effect. Now it's quite a complex theory, but in simple terms the sun shines down on the planet and some areas absorb the heat waves (dark areas like rainforest) and other areas reflect it straight back into space (light areas like Ice). This is based on the understanding that dark things absorb heat and light things don't; (think about light summer clothes and getting in a dark car). Now there are lots of other factors at play, however this process helps regulate the natural temperature of the earth.
Add humans into the mix and unfortunately they upset the balance. Not only are we causing ACTUAL warming of the earth by running cars, having central heating and manufacturing lots and lots of products, but we are also causing secondary warming by melting the ice caps. In simple terms, we warm the earth, the ice melts; the ice melts, the sun warms the earth more and it all gets hotter! The warmer it gets, the faster it gets warmer!
Now you must be wondering what on earth that has to do with Bald people, however there are several environmental benefits that being bald has:
1) We don't wash our hair or if we have wigs we wash them much less; less warm water, less time in the shower, less shampoo etc. etc.
2) We don't visit the hairdressers which means less petrol, electricity, water, shampoo etc. etc.
3) We use less products which means less to recycle or less materials used in the first place.
In the grand scheme of things, these benefits are pretty small and unless you are a Green Geek, probably have little impact in reality, but this is where the little gem came into the report...
It stated that being bald will 'reduce planetary heating by increasing one's albedo'. Unfortunately this would only apply to people with light skin tones, but what it means is that having a bald head will help reflect the sun's rays back in to space and have much the same effect as the ice mentioned earlier!
Great I thought... Even if only a little bit, being bald is helping me save the planet! Wouldn't it be amazing if there was a bald movement to help stop climate change! We'd be the pioneers and everyone would be jealous of our effortless shiny craniums! Alas, it was not to be! The report I read turned out to simply be an April Fools joke, but maybe just maybe there was a little grain of truth and I really am helping reduce climate change :-)
For anyone interested in finding out more about The Albedo Effect, trusty Wikipedia sets it out quite clearly.
Victoria x
www.prettybald.co.uk Twitter: @PrettyBald
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