For many of us, the seasons tell us a lot—like what holiday is coming up or what delicious
seasonal food there might be at the local grocery store.
But what if there were no seasons, or only one season all year round?
Well guess what?
1.
The Earth wouldn’t be tilted.
Let’s look at this on a global scale.
Our planet is divided into hemispheres, and each one gets a turn at being tilted toward
the sun as the Earth spins on its axis.
Without the tilt, there’d be some significant weather changes; science says that cold weather
would stretch outward and upward from the Equator, creating two extremes of hot and
cold.
Everyone would probably move toward the locations near the Equator where it’d be warmest.
This would cause over-population, the spread of diseases, and lack of resources.
Let’s delve deeper!
2.
There’d be a lack of food.
As I mentioned, most regions would be cold and wintery.
It would be very difficult to grow wheat, vegetables, or fruit.
Animals, too, would move to those warm regions by the equator and would likely get over-hunted.
If enough food isn’t grown to sustain the increased population—more on that later—everyone
would become scavengers, squeezing out every last resource they could from the land.
3.
Humans probably wouldn’t have progressed.
Let’s change perspective a little bit and think about what it would’ve been like to
have no seasons for primitive man.
We all know how hard it can be to travel during wintertime, even in modern times.
Humans probably wouldn’t have met up with other humans much, and settlements would be
scattered.
If humans couldn’t put their brains together, there are a lot of inventions that we wouldn’t
have today; we may never have learned to use tools.
We may never have become industrialized or have basic technology!
4.
We’d be way more susceptible to germs.
Per my previous point, we probably wouldn’t have advanced much in medicine, either.
If everyone had to live all together near the Equator, we’d be vulnerable to a lot
of disease; and not just from each other, but from insects too.
Regions near the Equator are usually warm and humid, the perfect breeding ground for
pathogens that tropical bugs carry.
The animals and livestock we’d be using for a food source would suffer too!
5.
Agricultural Problems Let’s look at this a little closer.
There’s a lot of rain in those tropical climates, which means there’s a lot of shifting
soil in the areas that farmers clear for growing crops.
Rain can erode the soil, which pushes all the nutrients down below the root level, making
that farmland at least partially infertile.
Tropical regions can deal with this now, because they generally have a low population density.
If everyone tried to move in, there wouldn’t be enough to go around.
Who knows what people would resort to…..
6.
We Need Winter!
Yeah, winter can be unpleasant, even dangerous.
But if there were no seasons and everyone decided to escape the winter weather that
would develop by moving in on the warmth of the Equator, we’d be missing out on a lot
of help.
Winter protects us from those tropical insects and their diseases that I mentioned; also,
many crops that we rely on, like wheat, oats and barley, potatoes, and corn grow better
in cooler climates that have a winter season.
7.
We would have to re-learn basic survival.
Remember when I talked about the Earth’s tilt?
Without that tilt, in addition to not having seasons, the same areas of the Earth would
get the same amount of sunlight almost all the time.
This means we’d have to do some adapting and learn how to successfully farm in these
new conditions; that includes growing crops and raising livestock.
Figuring out how to keep disease at bay would be on the agenda too.
We’d be back at Survival Square 1.
8.
The weather and temperature would be predictable.
This would be our one advantage.
There wouldn’t be much variation in daytime and nighttime hours, amount of sunlight per
day, or change in the atmosphere.
Every day would look and feel pretty much the same!
Once we figure out how to farm in one unchanging climate, being able to predict the weather
and its patterns would help a lot.
9.
Unchanging Landscape When our seasons change, so does everything
around us; the best example is the leaves changing during Autumn.
If we didn’t have seasons, there wouldn’t be many variations in our landscape anymore,
because the climate would stay about the same, and each place would have a predictable, set
amount of sunlight.
Sounds pretty boring to me!
What do you think—would you miss the changes that the seasons bring?
10.
The Equinoxes would be off.
The equinoxes signal a change in seasons.
For us Earthlings, equinoxes essentially mean a change in light, as days get longer and
shorter during the change of seasons.
Example: in the Northern hemisphere, nights start to get longer and daylight hours start
to get shorter at - the Autumnal Equinox.
Without seasons, there wouldn’t be much variation in light; changes in light would
normally have a huge biological effect on plants and animals, such as telling them when
it’s time to reproduce or hibernate.
11.
Psychological Effects Given that you don’t live near the Equator,
you probably experience at least some variation in seasons where you live, whether it be winter
and summer, or wet and dry.
Ever heard of Seasonal Depression?
Science has proven that sunlight has a positive effect on our mood, and gives us natural Vitamin
D. During the wintertime in the Northern hemisphere, for example, there’s not as much sunlight,
so many people start feeling blue.
If there were no seasons, you’d better hope that you live in a tropical region or can
make the move to one!
12.
There’d be huge effects on the ecosystem.
We’d just have to face it: there may be some plants and animals that wouldn’t survive
if there were no seasons; such as those that were stuck in a wintery region or a tropical
region.
That would mean a serious upset in the food chain, which could lead to more extinction.
Humans would still be at the top of the food chain, but what we could utilize as a food
source would likely become increasingly limited.
13.
There’d be disruptions in sleep patterns.
Humans, and many other mammals, have internal biological clocks that tell us when it’s
time to sleep, and when it’s time to be awake.
If a place experiences a change in the amount of sunlight it gets, those that live there
may see malfunctions in their biological clocks.
There’s one simple rule: we know we’re supposed to sleep when it’s dark, and be
awake when it’s daylight.
If the Earth was no longer on a tilt, some regions may see increased daylight hours (or
nighttime hours), messing with our ability to sleep.
14.
We could see changes in brain function.
A small European study found that our attention and focusing skills are better during the
summertime, and much worse during winter.
Short-term memory was even found to be affected; participants’ short-term memory was best
during the fall and worse during the spring.
Without seasons, we may not experience these changes at all, which could lead to slowed
brain growth and development.
It would certainly be a recipe for an unhealthy brain.
15.
Changes in skin and hair If you’d happen to be stuck in one of the
wintery regions, your skin and hair would likely dry out.
Cold, wintery air is always on the dry side, and its effects will not only dry out your
skin and hair, but will cause itchiness too, especially in the elderly and young children.
Cold air can even cause sensitive teeth!
On the flipside, if you’re in that tropical region, the risk of getting badly sunburned
is pretty real.
The change in seasons usually evens the playing field, but without seasons you’d be in one
extreme or the other.
16.
It could be bad for your heart.
If you’re stuck in one of the wintery regions, being cold all the time will cause your muscles
and blood vessels to constrict in an effort to retain some body heat.
Thinner blood vessels make your heart work harder than it normally would to pump blood
through your body.
This will cause an increase in your heart rate.
Over time, this could result in heart problems.
Plus, you’d get easily winded and physically exhausted.
Bottom Line: It think it’s fine that we keep the seasonings just the way they are.
I mean I just don’t know what I’d do without salt and pepper… what?
Oh, seasons instead of seasonings.
Got it.
Well that’s embarrassing…
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stay on the Bright Side of life!