Global Warming Makes Allergies Worse

November 22, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Wellness

Kimberly Buchanan asked:


Global Warming Makes Allergies Worse

Global warming…I’m sure there are people out there who don’t want to hear one more thing about it!  Right?  Global warming is such a hot topic right now for politicians, environmentalists, and… allergy sufferers? That’s right. As the planet heats up, so does our battle against allergies and asthma. In fact, many scientists now acknowledge the link between global warming and breathing problems.

What does global warming have to do with allergies? As the planet heats up, winter seasons become shorter. That means longer stretches of warm weather – and allergies. Springtime has been arriving earlier, leading to months of misery for those with airborne allergies. How much earlier? 10-15 days earlier in the past three decades alone. And this trend is not expected to stop anytime soon. Thanks to the lengthening seasons, allergies aren’t just lasting longer; they’re becoming more severe as well. The problem is so serious that experts have been scrambling to create new policies and solutions. Even the World Health Organization has commented on the serious health implications of longer pollen seasons.

There is more carbon dioxide in the air during allergy season. This is detrimental to allergy sufferers because plants and weeds thrive when they’re exposed to more carbon dioxide. One sign of a strong plant is the amount of pollen it produces. And with pollen levels on the rise, people with allergies are noticing an increase in their symptoms.

If you’re a city dweller, you could have an even harder time. Cities act like giant greenhouses for weeds. The press of bodies and buildings trap heat, causing weeds to grow larger and release more pollen. The large number of people releasing carbon dioxide into city air also stimulates weed growth. Research has shown that city weeds can grow twice as large as their country cousins. To make matters worse, they also produce stronger pollen that wreaks havoc on allergies.

Global Warming Brings More Allergens

With longer occurrences of warm, wet weather – not to mention the increase in floods and storms – the air contains more mold and fungi than ever. This is bad news for allergy sufferers, since those are some of the most common allergens. Asthma is on the rise, too, especially among young children who live in the city.

Even in the dry seasons, dust, toxins and smog lurk in the air, making it harder to breathe. But global warming is such a big problem -what can allergy sufferers do to make living – and breathing – a bit easier?

Fortunately, there are plenty of options that don’t involve drug therapy (which can have unwanted side effects).

First, take care of your airways. Give yourself good air to breathe by investing in a HEPA filter. Clean all the air filters in your home. And don’t neglect your car’s air filter if you spend a substantial amount of time behind the wheel. Keep track of air quality alerts in your area; on days when allergens are high, stay indoors as much as possible and keep the windows closed. On hot days, carry out most of your physical activities in the morning before allergens have a chance to flourish in the midday heat.

Consume foods that help your airways function properly.  This includes things rich in essential fatty acids, such as fish, seeds, and nuts.  You can also take a good fish oil supplement.

Make your home as allergy free as possible.  Carpets attract and trap dust, mites, and other allergens. Consider switching to hardwood flooring to improve your allergy symptoms. Regular cleaning of curtains, rugs and linens also helps to keep allergies at bay. And don’t forget about the health benefits of hypoallergenic trees and plants! Not only will they improve the air quality around your home, they’ll add beauty, too.

Not sure what you’re allergic to?  Take a test!  Check out:

” target=”_blank”>www.foodintolerancenews.com



The Year of the Man-made Global Warming Skeptic

August 20, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Science

James William Smith asked:


In 2008, scientists from all over the world are jumping off the man-made global warming bandwagon. This is due to the fact that environmental study after study concludes that the behavior of man is not the cause of significant global warming.

In a recently released Geological Society of America abstract, Dr. Don Easterbrook, Professor of Geology at Western Washington University, presented data showing that the global warming cycle from 1977 to 1998 is now over and that we have entered into a new global cooling period that should last for the next three decades.

He also suggests that since the IPCC climate models are now so far off from what is actually happening that their projections for both this decade and century must be considered highly unreliable.

Meanwhile, David Douglass and John Christy, in a paper just accepted for publication and now available on the internet, have come to the conclusion that natural changes in global water temperature are responsible for an increase in global temperature. Here is their scientific conclusion:

“El Nino and La Nina effects in the tropics have a more significant affect on global temperature anomalies than carbon dioxide, in particular it was an El Nino event that drove the 1998 global temperature maximum”.

At NASA, Dr. Roy Spencer, believes natural cycles account for most of last century’s warming, with carbon dioxide increases contributing only a modest amount.

His new research, which was submitted to Geophysical Research Letters for publication, shows that climate models overstate the positive feedback from an increase in carbon dioxide, and therefore grossly overstate the projected warming during the next century

In addition, two new studies (article in Science Magazine) point to wind-induced circulation changes in the ocean as the dominant cause of the recent ice losses through the glaciers draining both the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, not ‘global warming.’

In June, Dr. David Evans, an architect of Australia’s Kyoto compliance, and for years a noted climate change alarmist, became the latest man-made global warming doubter. Evans outlines the four main reasons why 2008 has become the year of the global warming skeptic and why he recently jumped off of the global warming bandwagon.

1.The missing “greenhouse signature”, which would be a hot zone about 10 km up in the atmosphere. It’s been sought for years – hundreds of measurements using radiosondes (a sort of temperature measuring weather balloon). It would constitute the smoking gun . Hundreds of tests have returned the same answer – it’s not there. It is statistically impossible that the hundreds of tests missed the spot. The existing models on greenhouse warming do not work without this hot zone.

2. “There is no evidence to support the idea that carbon emissions cause significant global warming” says Evans. “None”. There is plenty of evidence that global warming has occurred, and theory suggests that carbon emissions should raise temperatures (though by how much is hotly disputed) but there are no observations” constituting evidence that carbon emissions are a significant driver in warming trends.

3. Satellites measuring the world’s temperature uniformly show that the warming trend stopped in 2001 and that in the past year the temperature actually returned to 1980 levels. Satellite measurements are the only truly reliable method for capturing the data as land-based measurements are vulnerable to encroachments of expanding cities and “urban heat island effect.”

4.”The new ice cores show that in the past six global warmings over the past half a million years, the temperature rises occurred on average 800 years before the accompanying rise in atmospheric carbon. Which says something important about which was cause and which was effect.”

As global temperatures continue to cool and research against man-made global warming continues to pile up, as scientists abandon the man-made global warming bandwagon, one thing is becoming increasingly clear. The cause of global climate change should be based on facts and evidence and not just our fear.