Allergies Worse Than Ever? Blame Global Warming
Allergy sufferers like to claim — in between sniffles — that each spring’s allergy season is worse than the last. But this year, they might actually be right.
Thanks to an unusually cold and snowy winter, followed by an early and warm spring, pollen counts are through the roof in much of the U.S., especially in the Southeast, which is already home to some of the most allergenic cities in the country. A pollen count — the number of grains of pollen in a cubic meter of air — of 120 is considered high, but in Atlanta last week the number hit 5,733, the second highest level ever recorded in the city. (See a 1992 TIME cover on why allergies are nothing to sneeze at.)
The bad news is that in a warmer world, allergies are likely to get worse — and that’s going to cost sufferers and the rest of us. A new report released on Wednesday by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) found that global warming will likely increase pollen counts in the heavily populated eastern section of the country and that the effect of climate change could push the economic cost of allergies and asthma well above the current $32 billion price tag. “The latest climate science makes it clear that allergies could get much worse,” says Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist at NWF and the author of the report. “I really think this should be a wake-up call.”
Here’s how it works: higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere generally speed plant growth, while warmer temperatures mean that spring — and with it, allergy season — arrives earlier. Spring-like conditions in the East are already arriving on average 14 days earlier than just 20 years ago. (See why allergies are on the rise in children.)
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Gosh, it HAS to be CO2, it couldn’t possibly be related to changes in rainfall, sunlight, available nutrients (like fertilizer runoff) or winds. No, only CO2 can make weeds grow like crazy. Apparently the Times writer never heard of Liebigs Law
Read the rest of the story here, then wipe your nose on your sleeve.
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Well, if the NWF said so, it must be true. They’re right up there with the CRU in scientific standards.
“higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere generally speed plant growth,”…………yep, and we all know that’s bad. There you have it. If we’d all just quit using those silly refrigerators we could save some of that 32 bill.
From Jo Nova:
The team at CO2science grew seedlings for 42 days in chambers of 450ppm (high) and 1270 ppm (very high) CO2 concentrations. They documented the growth of cowpea plants (Vigna unguiculata) via time-lapse photography, and showed what most market gardeners knew: More CO2 in the air makes for taller, stronger, faster-growing plants. Indeed, CO2 is one of the essential nutrients for plants, and is often the thing that limits their growth. Pretty much all the plants on Earth grow faster when CO2 levels are higher.
Increased CO2 is well documented to increase plant growth.
REPLY: True, but so does adequate water, adequate sunlight, and adequate nutrients. Liebigs Law states that plant growth is limited by the lowest available factor. There’s no proof that a 1-2 ppm increase of CO2 from last year is the trigger for a weed explosion. Elevated Co2 levels must be far higher to have significant effects. The factors of water, sun, and nutrients are much more variable than CO2 in our atmosphere. Sorry, fail. – Anthony
So allergies have what to do with wildlife exactly?
Isn’t it strange as well that the NWF is so concerned about our economic well being and losses due to allergies when they are actively lobbying to have us cripple our economy and throw trillions of dollars down the CO2 hole?
I’m glad they’re so concerned about me – it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside
I am really not sure why no-one has taken the weatherization program to task. Sealing homes reduces ventilation. Reduced ventilation significantly increases allergens, and any number of organics, mold and particulates in the home. EPAs dirty little secret is indoor air quality has always been worse than outdoor air quality. Weatherization will make this worse. Seems these things only count when it fits an agenda.
According to the best computer modeling New York will be buried under a 100 ft loogie by 2020.
The left is trying to reinvent world, as if allergies had never existed until global warming. As we older people die off, the leftist will no doubt continue their campaign to re-educate the younger people that the world is in chaos without government intervention. It is truly Orwellien. We have stood by and have allowed ourselves to be shamed by accusations of intolerance. We need to stop equating acceptance of idiocy and second rate science as being inclusive and open minded. They are not the same thing.
The source for this article was the National Wildlife Federation, known throughout the rest of the world as the World Wildlife Fund. The WWF is one of the peer reviewed sources in the IPCC’s famous AR4 so this must claim must be true.
4 billion (20:24:49) : ………so, is plant growth preferable or not? ‘Cause I’m gonna ask them people to dig up those trees I donated money to so they could plant them trees if it’s a bad thing now………………………. Seriously, [snip]??? is it that a group of people got together and decided not to be happy with anything? What a magnificent discovery……increase in plant life equals higher pollen counts. Really? Who’d’ve thunk it.
The date of first DC Cherry Blossom blooms has not changed since they started keeping records.
http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=404
This story is yet another bit of AGW folklore.
I’ve had allergies (sometimes severe, life-threatening) all my life. I’ve never demanded that 95% of the population accommodate ME just because I have these health issues.
And it pisses me off that some people are using people with allergies as a tool to achieve a political goal.
But shouldn’t all that pollen in the air block some sunlight, thus making springtime cooler? I’ve discovered a negative feedback! Now to get a research grant.
Now hand on a cotton picken moment here. Increased CO2 made those plants grow faster and healthier. Let’s put aside the pollen thing for moment, I gots an evolution question to ask.
When plants evolve, they must by a process of natural selection achieve optimal growth profiles in the climate in which they evolved. Too cold, plant dies. Too warm, plant dies. A cactus in Nevada would thrive in a temperature and precipitation range that would kill a palm tree in florida, and vice versa. So, is there any reason to believe that evolution worked any different in regard to CO2 concentrations? Woujld they not have evolved to a CO2 range that was optimal for them? They must have a “sweet spot” in wich they make maximum use of the available CO2 across a natural number of other factors like prescipitation, nutrients and temperature. By building a database to cross reference all the factors, it should be possible to show the set of conditions the plant was evolving to. Once you know that, combined with the place the plant first appeared and how long ago it appeared, one should be able to say “hey, the spot here is where draconius publianist fajaroso yamal liartentium evvoled 3000 years ago and its ideal growing conditions were 5 degrees higher than now, less rain and 475 ppm CO2 or something like that.
Seriously, the fact that the plants do so well in an environment with CO2 concentrations so much higher than “normal” suggests that they exolved to handle those higher concentrations, and nothing evolves to handle things that don’t exist. I have long suspected the accuracy of ic core data, would love to see someone take a look at it ffrom this kind of perspective.
lol, I’m just amazed at how quick they turn lately. Why, it seems like just yesterday they were enticing companies to donate money in order to plant trees and save the world. Ahh, such memories……no, wait, that WAS just yesterday!!!!
As I recollect from my days as an allergy/immunology technician, the tree pollen is dominant during the spring, later grass and then later weeds. But CO2 has probably messed that up too. Well, regardless, being the ever mindful environmental whackjob, I vow to start killing the pollinating plant life in a meaningless, yet symbolic gesture in an attempt to offset the evil CO2 plant induced growth.
(See why allergies are on the rise in children.) <————– I didn't click on that link. I don't want to know what they want to blame their inferior genetic breeding on. But I surmise, it is more prevalent in………..sigh, I'm off to bed before I get out of hand.
Cheers.
PiperPaul (21:07:05) :
And it p***** me off that some people are using people with allergies as a tool to achieve a political goal.
Me, too. My 3-year-old was hospitalized last week for bronchitis/pneumonia, likely onset by allergies. My entire patio is green (I live in the southeast). It’s awful down here.
Won’t be too long before they’ll start looking for a poster child to advance the agenda.
It’s just sickening to read this garbage.
While I was mowing the lawn Monday my lawn tractor brushed up against an evergreen tree. The tree retaliated by releasing a cloud of pollen that covered the tractor and me. Fortunately it seems I’m not allegic to that particular brand of pollen as I had no reaction to it.
As sure as daylight follows the sun’s rise every day, stories on the imagined horrors we face from global warming follow every unusual weather event (if nothing else, the media is boringly predictable in its reporting on climate events).
I have allergies and live in North Carolina. This year was actually easy for me so far. How ever I did notice a huge amount of pine tree pollen, my water tanks are yellow and my critters have yellow muzzles this week.
I think the higher than normal rain fall this winter, with below freezing cold followed by a sudden week of very warm temperatures was the trigger not CAGW. The plants in my neck of the woods went from dormant to full out growth in a week.
However the temperatures are still cool with highs of 50F to 80F compared to several days of 98F in April of 2004.
Damn, Time has exposed the key evidence of my theory that the EU-based, UN supporting pharma industry is actually behind the funding of global warming because it is determined to make us allergy pill addicts before I had a chance to link WUWT readers to my site where they could download (for a small fee) my expose of this global Marxist scam (DYK: Karl Marx’s great step uncle went to school to be a pharmacist but his bourgeois professor apprenticed him to be a toad exterminator in Upper Silesia instead—apparently toads were thought to be a real problem there before the Great War).
This bizarre story, along with an absolutely fallacious claim that Spring pollen is somehow a more powerful allergen because of AGW was all over radio today. One has to wonder at the sheer stupidity of the newsreader.
Let’s put this in perspective. I have NO pollen allergies. As a Celt, I’m good for twenty minutes in the sun before fever, vomiting, diarhea and bad judgement kick in. My half-asian children have no pollen allergies and laugh at the sun. The obvious answer to climate change is miscegnation.
And out West my Spring ran screaming into a cave after seeing Phil.
Black clouds, rained all night & day, cold, damp, trees refuse to bud.
Been cold since early Dec.
Well, if it ain’t worth complaining about, it’s not weather.
it’s too bad this is such a poorly written story. alarmist stories like this distort the actual science behind the story. i wish they would have linked to the actual study. guess I’ll have to search for it to read behind the media’s lines
I’m going to pick a fight! With you Anthony!
When I am not busy with my birdfeeder I garden. I have four raised beds for vegies and my beloved Libby grows flowers. I have done some study about gardening. Rodale’s notions about intensive raised bed gardens have strongly influenced my practices since I have limited space. I have built a greenhouse like cap to fit over one of my beds. I am familiar with Liebig’s Law. As an experiment I put some dry ice in my little greenhouse. The spurt in plant growth was nearly unbelievable. Dry ice [frozen CO2] is now regularly used especially with my seedlings with consistant results.
It would be easy to say that I have created by soil amendments and watering a situation where CO2 is in short supply. But the object of Rodale’s ideas is to replicate rich natural soil with little or no chemical fertilizers. I submit that my little experiment implies that there may be a shortage of CO2 for optimum plant growth in our atmosphere. Commercial greenhouses certainly agree with me when they pump up CO2 levels to 1000pm.
The point of all this is that when excellent conditions are achieved [a situation which frequently occurs in nature] CO2 shortage stunts plant growth. I believe you are a renaissance man Anthony [a high accolade], but I’ll believe you’re a master gardener when you tell me so.
The birds love my vine ripe tomatos.
REPLY: No fighting needed. No doubt about the value of CO2 for plant growth, but we are talking about doubling, tripling, to have any real effect. For example ponder this video from CO2 Science:
Clearly, the growth effect is prominent at 1270 ppm, much like what you experienced with dry ice enrichment of the air with CO2. So yes, at 388 ppm right now, we are a bit low compared to what plants might like.
But to claim hay fever causing weeds and plants are growing bezerk over a change of 2 ppm in the last year is just plain junk science. – Anthony
Dear Americans, Harry Reid is laying the groundwork to push through a new cap-and-trade bill in the US:
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/91761-reid-pushing-very-hard-for-climate-bill
We all know this is not about saving the environment, but rather to provide a financial windfall to Obama’s administration to fund their BIG GOVERNMENT agenda. There is already a precedent for this: In Australia, the prime minister Kevin Rudd’s attempt to ram through an emissions trading scheme in parliament last year to create a $120 billion gov slush fund ended in abject failure and humiliation.
Let’s get real for one second. The US government doesn’t give a [snip] about you. They let you buy guns and cancer-causing cigarettes at Walmart–think about it. Why would they be so concerned about saving you from global warming?
Is it because global warming is Obama’s ticket to guilt middle-class taxpayers into willingly paying for huge increase in taxes? Note that Obama promised “no new taxes” during his campaign for president. Unfortunately, the only certainties in life are death, taxes, and lying politicians.
Here’s my challenge to Obama: if global warming is real as you say, then quit smoking RIGHT [snip]NOW because YOU are adding more co2 to the atmosphere that MY taxpayer money will end up being used to pay for.
Further note how Obama is attempting to circumvent the democratic electoral process by forcing through carbon taxes via EPA rulings.
I’m sorry to say that England and The Brits are [snip]. Their government is so deeply involved in carbon emissions trading that there is no way back for them, short of a citizen revolution. I would not be surprised to see an uprising similar to the recent one in Kyrgyzstan (caused by high energy prices and cronyism) take place in the UK in the next 5 to 10 years.