#pollen count

horrifying news considering there are normally massive amounts of pollen in the air in georgia this time of year. this is absolutely happening because of the climate crisis but it's also partly caused by the destruction of large segments of the Weelaunee Forest in the past few years - a lot of the pollen is tree pollen which would normally be captured by some of the trees that were cut down. there's about to be a major storm, too, and considering how storms have gone in recent years there will absolutely be worsening flooding - the flooding was bad enough before they cut those trees down and started building on a crucial floodplain and the more they raze and pave the area the worse it's going to get for the surrounding neighborhoods (which have mostly Black, low income residents).

for more context about Cop City and the many other reasons why it should never be built, check out these links:

Have the freaking mercy.

In the Wind

Spring flowers may be beautiful, but they also spell trouble for those suffering from hay fever, a form of allergic rhinitis in reaction to pollen grains, especially from grasses (pictured, under the microscope). Climate change is exacerbating the problem, as warmer weather encourages earlier flowering, lengthening the pollen season, and higher carbon dioxide levels boost pollen production. Pollen is also carried large distances by wind, so pollen season can begin even earlier than expected. In Bavaria, Germany, scientists examining pollen records from seven groups of species over thirty years found that pre-season pollen, from plants not yet in flower locally, was common, appearing on average two weeks before the local flowering season started. Transported pollen might also come from different species, and occur at night-time as well as in the daytime, so a better understanding of pollen movements is important for more accurately predicting pollen levels, and managing allergies.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Image by A. Menzel and Y. Yuan, Technical University of Munich

Department of Life Science Systems, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Freising, Germany

Image copyright held by the original authors

Research published in Frontiers in Allergy, February 2021

You all know how annoying a lingering head cold can be, right? You get rid of the really bad sickness, you lose the fever but that congestion, periods of coughing or sneezing and all that post nasal congestion just HANGS around. Well, it’s been about a week, hopefully it’ll be gone soon.