Study: climate change causing longer and nastier allergy seasons
Articles — By forcechange on December 2, 2008 9:16 am
A study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology looks at the possibility that climate change is producing longer and more intense allergy seasons. Increased CO2 in the atmosphere causes allergy causing ragweed plants to grow even bigger and nastier, which leads to more of their pollen being released into the air. Additionally, warmer temperatures push back the first frost of the winter, which normally helps to conclude the allergy season.
While the lengthening allergy season cannot definitively be attributed to climate change, since there are numerous factors that can effect micro-climates and ecosystems, it is another in a long line of studies that have shown we are likely changing our environment in strange and unsettling ways. Unfortunately, if the ice all melts and the temperatures spike, allergies will probably be the least of our concerns.
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Thwe picture is of goldenrod, not ragweed.