In this week’s newsletter: the European pollen season is now up to two weeks longer than it was in the 90s – just one more way global heating is causing millions to suffer
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Here’s a confession that may alarm faithful readers of this newsletter: I am an environment reporter who does not love nature.
Before I get cancelled, yes, I do care about the fate of the natural world – scientists are clear that wrecking it hurts us – but the weird wonders of wildlife have always occupied a smaller place in my heart than those of most people I interview. One reason for that, I realised last week, is that hay fever has seriously dampened the pleasure I get from ambling through forests or squelching through wetlands.
Strangely, the same forces driving the destruction of nature have also contributed to my lack of appreciation for it. Climate breakdown has made the European pollen season one to two weeks longer than it was when I was born in the 1990s, a study in the Lancet medical journal found last week.
