World environment day 2021

 

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY : Climate Change and Your Allergies

May 5^th 2021

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY , which is being celebrated today i.e June 5th, is a great opportunity to reflect on our planet and what we can do to make it better. Climate change may impact your allergies  more than you think.

 A 20 yr old study  looked at how environmental allergy seasons are impacted by global warming, and the findings were pretty compelling.

Why Pollen Days Are Increasing

Climate change has a negative impact on many things, but it’s actually really good for some plants — particularly the ones that pollinate and cause allergy symptoms. These plants thrive with the increased heat, moisture, and carbon dioxide, which all lead to their increase in pollination.

 

Allergens and Pollen

Climate change will potentially lead to both higher pollen concentrations and longer pollen seasons, causing more people to suffer more health effects from pollen and other allergens.

Pollen is an airborne allergen that can affect our health. Pollen grains are tiny “seeds” dispersed from flowering plants, trees, grass, and weeds. The amount and type of pollen in the air depends on the season and geographic region. Though pollen counts are typically higher during the warmer seasons, some plants pollinate year-round.

Climate change will potentially lead to shifts in precipitation patterns, more frost-free days, warmer seasonal air temperatures, and more carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere. These changes can affect:

• when the pollen season starts and ends and how long it lasts each year,
• how much pollen plants create and how much is in the air,
• how pollen affects our health (the “allergenicity” of pollen),
• how much pollen we’re exposed to, and
• our risk of experiencing allergy symptoms.

Pollen exposure can trigger various allergic reactions, including symptoms of hay fever. Hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, occurs when allergens like pollen enter your body and your immune system mistakenly identifies them as a threat. If you have allergic rhinitis, your body then responds to the allergen by releasing chemicals that can cause symptoms in the nose. Symptoms of allergic rhinitis can occur during certain seasons or year-round, depending on the allergen, and affect as many as several million people per year in the world . Symptoms from allergic rhinitis include sneezing, runny nose, and congestion.

Pollen exposure can also trigger symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis. Allergic conjunctivitis is the inflammation of the lining of the eye (conjunctiva) due to exposure to allergens like those in pollen. Allergic conjunctivitis is found in up to 30% of the general population and as many as 7 out of 10 of patients with allergic rhinitis. Symptoms from allergic conjunctivitis include red, watery, or itchy eyes.

People with respiratory illnesses like asthma may be more sensitive to pollen. Exposure to pollen has been linked to asthma attacks and increases in hospital admissions for respiratory illness. Medical costs linked with pollen exceed several  billion every year, with nearly half of those costs being linked to prescription medicine. Higher pollen concentrations and longer pollen seasons can also make you more sensitive to allergens. This can trigger asthma episodes in individuals with asthma and diminish productive work and school days.

Extreme rainfall and rising temperatures also can contribute to indoor air quality problems. For example, they can cause the growth of mold indoors, which may lead to worsened respiratory conditions for people with asthma and/or mold allergies and heightened challenges in maintaining adequate asthma control.

 

 

 

World Environment Day 2021 calls for urgent action to revive our damaged ecosystems. 

 

From forests to mainland  to coasts, we all depend on healthy ecosystem  for our survival. Ecosystems are defined as the interaction between living organisms - plants, animals, people - with their surroundings. This includes nature, but also human-made systems such as cities or farms. 

RATES OF DESTRUCTION

We are losing and destroying the foundations of our survival at an alarming rate. 

Over 4.7 million hectares  of forests – an area larger than Denmark – are lost every year. That’s one football pitch every three seconds. Over half of the world’s wetlands have disappeared in the last century. 

Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown for three consecutive years and the planet is one pace for potentially catastrophic climate change.

The emergence of COVID-19 has also shown just how disastrous the consequences of ecosystem loss can be. By shrinking the area of natural habitat for animals, we have created ideal conditions for pathogens – including coronaviruses – to spread.

But we can build back better. 

SOLUTIONS: How We Can Help

 

Ecosystem restoration is a global undertaking at massive scale. It means repairing billions of hectares of land – an area greater than China or the USA – so that people have access to food, clean water and jobs. 

It means bringing back plants and animals from the brink of extinction, from the peaks of mountains to the depths of the sea. 

But it also includes the many small actions everyone can take, every day:

·        growing trees,

·        greening our cities,

·        rewilding our gardens

·        cleaning up trash alongside rivers and coasts

Also In 2021, being environmentally conscious is becoming more mainstream, giving us many ways to help preserve the environment.

Here are a few easy things you can do every day to slow climate change.

1.    Find ways to use less gas — carpool, use public transportation, bike or walk to your destination

2.    Turn off and unplug electronics when they’re not in use, including lights and air conditioning units

3.    Stop throwaway plastic use. Instead, use reusable water bottles, bags, and containers

4.    When possible, use less hot water, as hot water uses up to five times more energy than cold water

Even small actions can make a big difference when they’re done collectively.

 Happy world environment Day!!