When Dr. Stanley Fineman started as an allergist, he reminded patients to start taking medications and prepare for pollen season in the middle of March. That was about 40 years ago. Today, he tells them to start around the middle of February.
Since 1990, pollen season across the United States and Canada has been starting earlier, about 20 days earlier. And pollen loads, the amount of pollen released by plants, are 21 percent higher. The main reason for this, a new study found, is global warming.
Other studies have demonstrated North America's allergy, season getting longer and worse. But this one, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, is the first study to make scientific connections between an earlier and more intense pollen season with human-caused climate change. The study says the warmer the Earth gets, the earlier spring starts for animals and plants, especially plants that release pollen. Additionally, plants yield more pollen when they drink in carbon dioxide.
Since 1990, about half of the earlier pollen seasons were linked to climate change — mostly from warmer temperatures. And carbon dioxide played a part. Since the 2000s, about 65 percent of earlier pollen seasons can be blamed on wanning. And about 8 percent of the increased pollen loads can be blamed on climate change. Bill Anderegg, the lead writer of the study, said, u climate change is here and it's in every breath we take. This is clearly warming temperatures and more carbon dioxide, giving rise to more pollen in the air. "
Chris Downs of St. Louis, Missouri already has problems with breathing, headaches, and red itchy eyes. His allergies usually hit in March. But the last two years, they came in early February. "As a kid I never saw anything start blooming in February," Downs said, "Now I see a handful of years like that." This is not just a matter of sneezing and watery eyes. There are more serious health concerns. A University of Maryland scientist said the pollen is a risk for other diseases including asthma.
