If the theory of evolution is true, then why are White people still burning under the sun?

Question

If the theory of evolution is true then White people should have evolved into browner skinned individuals by now, based on their geographic location, diet and environment. Why does their skin still turn red and burn when they stay outside too long. PS- I'm aware that colored people burn too but that's not the point here.

Answer 1

Yes, light skin has its disadvantages. Since my family roots are from the Artic Circle, that has been a relatively small problem. My relatives should stay out of the sun, when they have moved to places like Arizona and such.

Hey, getting a sunburn hurts like HECK. So I work to avoid that situation. Staying inside is a good move. I'll burn to a crisp in about 4 hours. So I cover up to avoid that.

Answer 2

Evolution isn't an automatic process that occurs at a given rate no matter what. There has to be a selective pressure on the organism to adapt. Sure, I get sun burned if I stay out in the sun too long. How does that effect my reproductive success living in a modern society? It doesn't. I'll put on some sun screen, or stay inside, and have every bit as good of a chance to pass my genes on as anyone else. There's no selective pressure to develope darker skin.

In a hostile and hot environment such as some parts of Africa, and without the ammenities and comforts of modern civilization, yes, there would be selective pressure on the species.

Finally, 'white' people have been living in areas with less sun exposure (Europe) for thousands of years. It is only very recently that 'white' people have begun to live in areas with more sun exposure, say a few hundred years at most. Even if there was selective pressure to adapt to this, it takes a lot more than a few hundred years to do so.

Answer 3

It was more important in evolutinary survival for white people to be able to make vitamin D by absorbing it from weaker solar rays, hence the lighter skin since lighter skin can respond to sunlight more (hence, sunburn). Even if burned in the summer time, the chances of dying eventually from cancer wouldn't happen until long after the individual has bred and passed on their genes. Try living without vitamin D for a whole winter as an infant, or a lactating mother, and the infant would not survive vitamin deficiency to pass on the genes. Dark Skin needs more light to produce the same vitamin. These days, supplements provide what we need. Drink more milk.

Answer 4

Because Europeans come from a different environment. Based on their environment, they didn't need nearly as much protection from the sun. Africans, on the other hand did. Now that Europeans have moved to different areas of the world, they get sunburned. Also, you have to remember that 20,000 years ago there was an ice age and Europe was very cold. This is why Europeans have the features they do.

Answer 5

Thanks to clothing and sunscreen and general common sense about sun exposure, even the whitest of white people can live in places like Hawaii and reproduce pleantifully to pass on their genes.

You have to realize that evolution happens when it wants to, where it wants to, and in ways you might not expect.

At the current moment, there is no reason, or cause for light skinned people in Hawaii to evolve to have darker skin because they can protect themselves from the sun sufficiently enough. Even if they couldn't, evolution can take thousands of years and the potential genes must be there for something to occure.

That being said, Europeans in Australia have I think it was 4 times the chance of developing skin cancer than Europeans in Europe. But this is typically in older people who have already had their children.

Answer 6

if you notice people in colder countries have paler skins and vice versa for people in hot countries. When races are mixed you get a situation where the skin is not necessrily suited to the environment. Also with the changes in the environment including the hole in th ozone layer evolution is having a hard time catching up with what the human being needs when it comes to protection.

Answer 7

Lighter skin developed out of the need for vitamin K in northern environments. Lighter skin allows for more vitamin K absorption from the sun, and since there's limited sun light in northern climates the people needed to get as much as they could in a narrow span of time.
Skin that's light does burn, but it gets the vitamins that it needs, and the need for vitamins is more pressing then preventing a burn

Answer 8

Theentire reason white people exist is that the sun is not prevelant enough in northern areas, and we evolved to have less melanin in our skin so we could absorb more vitamin d with the lack of sun.

Maybe if a colony of white people moved to africa, in a few thousand years they would all be black.

Answer 9

According to the theory of evolution, very white people could have only survived (sun-wise) in northern climates. Maybe that's where they were originally lived. Maybe they gradually migrated down south -- and as they travelled, how to protect oneself from the sun, (by wearing long robes and head coverings), was spread by word of mouth.

I got this idea because my grandparents always wore robes and veils in their native country and never burned. Then they immigrated to the U.S., went outside in "street clothing," and burned from then on.

Answer 10

The advantage of sparsely pigmented ("white") skin is that it is more efficient at producing Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. This is an advantage in climates where the sunlight is weaker and where people are exposed to less sun due to winter clothing.