The pollen season is becoming longer, earlier and more intense as a result of a changing climate, a study published Monday in a journal of the National Academy of Sciences reveals.
Scientists from several universities led by William Anderegg at Rutgers examined pollen measurement data dating between 1990 and 2018 and found that the pollen season increased by 20 days in that period, while the amount of pollen in the air grew by 21%.
“We found widespread advances and prolongation of pollen seasons (+20 d) and increases in pollen concentrations (+ 21%) in North America, which are strongly associated with the observed warming,” says the study summary. “Our results reveal that anthropogenic climate change has already exacerbated pollen seasons in the past three decades, with consequent deleterious effects on respiratory health.”
“This is a clear example that climate change is here and is with every breath we take,” Anderegg told the Associated Press, which released the study for the first time.
Scientists around the world have warned that the environment must be limited to 2 degrees Celsius warming to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
A study published earlier this year indicated that greenhouse gas emissions already in the atmosphere could push the Earth beyond that limit in the coming centuries.
The US has given up on the Paris climate agreement, which agrees to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, President Trump
Donald TrumpDOJ will resign the majority of U.S. prosecutors appointed by Trump: report Trump’s lawyer withdraws request not to hold impeachment trial on Saturday Kinzinger on opinion calls to Republican Party senators to convict Trump on impeachment trial and rejoined the multinational deal last month.