Global Warming

MANILA, Philippines -- Experts warned yesterday that cases of allergy are likely to increase due to climate change.
Dr. Jorilla Abong, head of the aerobiology council of the Philippine Society of Allergology, Asthma and Immunology (PSAAI) explained that climate change has affected the pollen calendar and pollination activities of plants.
According to Abong, pollen is the most common cause of allergy worldwide. Pollination is the transfer of pollen among plants enabling fertilization and reproduction.
“Climate change affects the pollen calendar. It affects the length of time of pollination and the amount of carbon dioxide used by plants for their sexual reproduction activities. Now, there is more carbon dioxide so more plants are pollinating – more pollens are now in the air,” Abong told a forum organized by the Philippine College of Physicians recently.
Worldwide, respiratory allergy is the most common type of allergy suffered by affected individuals, Dr. Beatrice Vicente Pascual, head of the community outreach committee of PSAAI, said.
Aside from pollen, she said people can be allergic to molds, trees, fungi, dust mites, and in the feces of cockroaches.
The 2008 National Nutrition and Health Survey revealed that two out of 10 Filipinos suffer from allergic rhinitis while one out of 10 Filipinos suffer from bronchial asthma. It also said food allergy affects four out of 100 Filipinos.
The experts said individuals suffering from allergy should keep watch against pollens from trees and plants as they are buoyant and can travel hundreds of miles. Rotten fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, carry molds that are found in damp areas.

Kobus: Global warming caused Irene?
Chris Kobus writes at TheBlogProf.com:
Saw this one coming. Hurricane Irene caused by . . . global warming. And what, pray tell, caused the bigger one that hit New York some 72 years ago? From Politico, ("Was Hurricane Irene caused by global warming?"):
"Irene's got a middle name, and it's Global Warming," environmental activist Bill McKibben wrote Thursday night in The Daily Beast.
But not so fast, hurricane scientists say: Not only is it impossible to tie any single hurricane to global warming, but researchers are also still fiercely debating whether the changing climate is making — or will make — tropical cyclones either stronger or more frequent.
It's also not even clear that hurricane seasons are getting worse over time, some researchers say. After all, New York City and Long Island have been hit by nine previous hurricanes from 1858 to 1991, according to NOAA records, including the disastrous 1938 storm known as the Long Island Express. And the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history struck 111 years ago — the 1900 storm that killed an estimated 8,000 people in Galveston, Texas.
But why let facts stand in the way? Remember when liberals insisted that we would see more Category 5 hurricanes devastating the US because of global warming? That was back in 2005. Where are those Cat 5s making landfall?

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110828/MIVIEW/108280351/Kobus--Global-warming-caused-Irene?#ixzz1X2a0OgiX