Are your allergies worse this spring? You can blame climate change.

This Earth Day, we want to talk about mucus.

Admittedly, there are much more appealing ways to rally support for protecting our planet. But mucus is a potent symbol of a stark and sobering truth: Climate change is harming our health. Not years into the future. Not halfway around the world. Right here, right now – and we’re all at risk.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which synthesizes findings from hundreds of scholars, laid out the stakes quite clearly in its recent report: “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.”

Opinions in your inbox: Get exclusive access to our columnists and the best of our columns

The stories accompanying such dire warnings often highlight droughts in Africa or floods in Asia or hurricanes in the Caribbean. These are all deadly and tragic consequences of climate change.

Climate change triggers serious health risks

Behind the headlines, however, there are myriad health consequences caused by our warming planet – smaller in scale than a multination famine, but serious nonetheless.

AI-created misinformation: ChatGPT made up research claiming guns aren't harmful to kids. How far will we let AI go?

Study after study suggests that climate change raises the risk for cancer, heart disease, stroke, autoimmune disease, neurodegenerative disorders, asthma and allergies. We believe that raising awareness of the intimate connection between our planet’s health and our personal health could begin to galvanize support for stronger actions to combat climate change.

So on Earth Day, we call on advocates, activists and government officials to bring the public health lens to climate change. It’s critical that everyone understands this is not an abstract crisis: Warming temperatures pose a deeply personal threat to our own health and longevity, and to the well-being of our friends and family.

Consider:

►Climate change has exacerbated more than 200 infectious diseases, often making them more transmissible or expanding their range. Last month, for instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first locally acquired cases of dengue virus in Maricopa County, Arizona. The disease is typically found in tropical regions, but mosquitos carrying it have been migrating north with rising global temperatures.

►Higher temperatures can trap ground-level ozone pollution, a powerful lung irritant. That, in turn, triggers asthma attacks, which can be deadly; young children are particularly vulnerable. There are also growing concerns that long-term exposure to air pollution can raise the risk for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

►Prolonged heat waves put significant strain on pregnant people; they are linked to preterm births, stillbirths and low birth weight.

►Warmer temperatures also mean extended growing seasons – and new habitats – for plants that often trigger allergies. Across the United States, scientists have measured a substantial increase in pollen counts and allergen sensitivities.

That last item brings us back to mucus. The average person produces about half a cup of snot and phlegm a day. If you have allergies, however, you produce up to 2 gallons of mucus a day. (And yes, scientists have actually measured it.)

Allergies can make you more vulnerable to heart disease

All that goop in your nose is not just inconvenient. It’s also a hazard. Bacteria love to grow in mucus, so producing excess quantities raises your risk for pneumonia, sinusitis and infections in the airways, as well as serious asthma flare-ups. Allergies also put your immune response on high alert, to the point where immune cells can start attacking otherwise healthy systems, leaving you vulnerable to cardiovascular disease and autoimmune conditions.

Mucus, then, is a powerful sign of the dangers of climate change.

NBA star Paul George: I needed help with my mental health. You can find help, too.

I suffer from depression and anxiety: Our mental health is no joke

Of course, you don’t typically see runny noses on Earth Day posters. On the contrary, ever since the first Earth Day in 1970, most of the graphics created to promote the occasion have depicted scenes from nature: towering trees, bountiful forests, crystalline rivers. They’re beautiful. But they make the planet seem like an entity apart – a delicate bubble to be preserved for its own sake.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

The truth, of course, is that our public health and the planet’s heath are highly interdependent. Only when voters and politicians understand that at a visceral level will we be able to muster support for crucial steps like transitioning to a net-zero economy.

It is in that spirit that we nominate mucus as an unofficial mascot of Earth Day. It might seem frivolous, but we believe it could help focus attention on the widespread effects on health of climate change. And that’s critical. Our planet is warming quickly. We don’t have time to waste.

Kari Nadeau chairs the Environmental Health Department and Sarah Fortune chairs the Immunology and Infectious Diseases Department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Earth Day 2023: Why climate change is a dire threat to your health