If you feel like your recent periods of coughing, sneezing and shaking your fists at the trees for producing so much pollen are getting longer, you鈥檙e probably right.
It seems that climate change is having an effect on the duration of plants鈥� pollination seasons. Warmer and wetter winters are allowing pollination to start earlier and last longer, sometimes as much as听.听听in the air can also affect how much pollen plants produce鈥� and it鈥檚 not going down. The net effect is longer, harsher seasons for allergy sufferers.
Seasonal allergies were听听around the time of the industrial revolution, though we鈥檙e not certain why they sprang up then.听听that the rapid urbanization and increase in human greenhouse gas emissions triggered the phenomenon of seasonal allergies. Even now, pollen allergies are听听in urban centres. As the temperature increases, due to our elevated emissions, allergenic species are able to migrate into areas they previously couldn鈥檛 thrive in. This results in new allergies as well as worsening of previously existing ones. Pollen counts are raised by windy and dry conditions, and lowered by wet and cooler ones, so staying indoors on the hottest of spring days is a good idea. You might also want to consider what you can do to mitigate climate change. After all, the climate is听unequivocally,听undeniably听changing. And not for the better.
