Pollen Increases

If you have seasonal allergies, you may have noticed that your symptoms have been worse than in previous years. Due to climate change, allergy season has expanded in various parts of the world. Climate change impacts the amount of flowers that are grown, and areas that usually pollinate earlier are pollinating later, and vice versa. The trend has caused an increase in allergic responses in individuals as well as an increase in allergic responses by age. 

Pollen is an important part of our world. It passes between plants, helping them reproduce. Pollen is dispersed in various ways, including through the wind and by insects. Because many trees, grasses, and weeds rely on wind dispersal to acquire pollen, seasonal allergies become very prevalent in these environments. 

Climate change affects pollen because it leads to greater amounts of pollen in the atmosphere, changes the seasonality of pollen, and changes the types of pollen that we are exposed to. Rising temperatures, caused by climate change, encourage an earlier and extended pollen season. Plants emit pollen primarily in the spring and summer because the warm weather leads to more pollen production, causing plants to produce more allergenic pollen and the amount of pollen in the air to increase. 

The CDC has published precautions to take to lessen the effect of the increasing pollen levels as much as possible. The website encourages people to check pollen forecasts and limit outdoor time during high levels, take allergy medicine as prescribed by health care providers, not touch their eyes outside and wash their hands before touching their eyes indoors, shower after being outside to remove pollen from their hair and skin, change clothes after being outdoors, and and keep their windows closed.