I got the title from a song, but it might ring true sooner than you think!  I spent the weekend camping at Ginnie Springs in High Springs, FL. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Orlando (and 3 of us carpooled my fuel efficient Yaris of course), and it is absolutely beautiful! We had a blast, built bonfires, slept in tents, swam in the crystal clear water…and somehow a slip n slide appeared the last night of the trip (and I have the scars…and muddy pictures to prove it). As the weekend went on I was thinking of the different parts of the trip I could blog about for Green Travel, but it wasn't until I returned home with POISON IVY that I realized what I should write about.

I've never had poison ivy before, and in fact I didn't even think I was allergic to it. BUT, as the days passed since I returned from camping I've been finding more and more new itchy "bug bites" (or so I thought) appearing on my skin. I started thinking that my apartment…or maybe my office….was infested with ants. After a full investigation I realized that wasn't the case.

I started researching the poison ivy rash on the internet and it did not take long to self-diagnose. I've got it! My next step was to search for some sort of treatment to relieve the itching and this was where my blog idea was sparked. Article after article appeared in Google relating poison ivy to global warming! My favorite an MSNBC article titled "Another Global Warming Gift: Itchier Poison Ivy," explained that increased carbon dioxide levels cause the plant to not only grow faster and bigger, but it also produces more of the chemical, urushiol, that makes you itch. I also found an NPR interview from a Woods Hole scientist, Jacqueline Mohan, who spent 6 YEARS studying the impact of CO2 on poison ivy. She says that the plant grows 149% faster, and lives longer in the CO2 concentrated areas.

Well that’s sure something to look forward to, especially considering that 80% of the world is allergic to poison ivy. As if the melting polar caps and extinction of the polar bears wasn't enough? Looks like we better do something, or we'll all be camping in Hazmats!

FYI:  This is what poison ivy looks like

The poison ivy rash

Moderate:

Severe: 

Click Here to see pictures of beautiful Ginnie Springs:  Ginnie Pics