Sitting at home sneezing and sniffling on a gorgeous sunny day, I wondered if climate change could be making my allergy symptoms stronger. Sure enough, I read that elevated temperatures and more carbon dioxide are making allergy seasons worse. Plants are flowering earlier, advancing the onset of spring. Increase in greenhouse gases stimulate pollen production and fungi growth. Studies are predicting that a warming planet will bring more intense rainstorms, increasing carbon dioxide even further. Molds are likely to become more common in homes. In 2006, Duke University researchers reported that increased carbon dioxide will likely fuel growth of a more poisonous form of poison ivy.
Truly this is nothing to sneeze at.
