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The climate crisis is increasing the miseries faced by allergy sufferers, and new research has found that the pollen season in North America is now on average 20 days longer than it was three decades ago.
Rising global temperatures are helping to lengthen the period, usually in the spring, when pollen is released from plants, trees and grasses, according to the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In an analysis of 60 pollen collection stations across the United States and Canada, the pollen season is now 20 days longer on average than it was in 1990. The season is also becoming more intense, with much larger amounts of pollen detected.
This increase is strongly coupled with global warming, with researchers using climate modeling to show that climate change is responsible for at least half of the extra days of pollen activity. There is also some evidence that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may in itself help stimulate this increase.
“We’re getting warmer winters, hotter springs, and earlier springs, which is a big part of the driving force,” said William Anderegg, study co-author and scientist at the University of the Utah, who took a personal interest in the matter due to her own seasonal hay fever. “This is a very clear example that climate change is already here, in essence it’s there in every breath we take. The health impacts are with us and are likely to get worse.
Tiny grains of pollen, expelled to propagate plants, can trigger seasonal allergies in some people, causing sneezing, itchy eyes and runny noses. The pollen season can also worsen other conditions, such as asthma, and these conditions have been linked to poor school performance and rippling economic repercussions.
Anderegg said the pollen season was likely to lengthen in other parts of the world, although some areas would be limited by water availability. “We don’t really know how far it will go from here, we don’t have a lot of pollen monitoring against other types of air pollution,” he said, adding that a public health response could include warnings on days of high pollution. and air filters for buildings.
The study is the first to be able to attribute the growing pollen season to climate change, according to Kristie Ebi, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington who was not involved in the research. “As the climate continues to change, without further adaptation to prepare for and manage the impacts… the number of asthma and allergy cases due to aeroallergens is expected to increase,” she said.
Aaron Bernstein, an academic at Harvard School of Public Health and a doctor at Boston Children’s Hospital, said he was seeing more children with allergies and asthma.
“The future is now,” he said. “Every year we see more clearly the harmful effects of climate change on health. The worsening allergy season is one of the many reasons for major climate action now, not only to prevent immense damage, but to promote a, and a sustainable world. “
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