05/04/2026
This is Air Quality Awareness Week!
The first week of May is Air Quality Awareness Week (AQAW)! Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shares different air quality topics to educate people on how to “take action to prepare for and respond to events and environments with poor air quality - not just during the month of May, but year-round!” The EPA will share a new topic related to air quality each day of the week. Here is this year’s lineup:
May 4th: Wildland Fires and Smoke
May 5th: Asthma and Your Health (May is Asthma Awareness Month and May 5th is World Asthma Day this year)
May 6th: Indoor Air Quality
May 7th: Air, Animals, and Plants
AQAW is a great time to learn about air pollution and how it has trended in the past, present, and future. Overall, air quality has improved due to increased environmental regulations. In 2024, the EPA found that the total emissions from 6 criteria pollutants (ground-level ozone (O3), fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), lead (Pb), and sulfur dioxide (SO2)) have dropped by 79% since 1970. However, as the climate changes and there are warmer and drier days, so will the likelihood of poorer air quality.
Ozone is a photochemical pollutant. It forms from a photochemical reaction between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NOx. These pollutants come from sources such as vehicle emissions, power plants, gas pumps, or chemical plants. Sunlight and warmer temperatures aid in this chemical reaction. Ozone is a greenhouse gas, which is good high up in the atmosphere for reducing the amount of harmful UV sun radiation from reaching the surface of the earth. It’s not good for our health when ozone is at ground-level (where we breathe).
Warmer and drier days mean better conditions for wildland fires to start and grow, producing smoke that degrades air quality. Wildland fires are any fire that occurs where there is little to no human activity or development. These include wildfires (unplanned fires started naturally or by human actions) and prescribed fires (planned fires usually ignited by fire experts with the goal of benefitting the land). Wildland fires produce smoke, which is considered PM2.5. These particles are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller (roughly 30 times smaller than a strand of human hair!) These are so small that if inhaled, it can go deep into your lungs or even enter your blood stream, causing an even greater health risk. Depending on the size and intensity of a wildfire, smoke can travel thousands of miles away and pose a risk to many.
To learn how you can take action and protect yourself from poor air quality, check out each AQAW topic at https://www.epa.gov/air-quality/air-quality-awareness-week.
You can read more about air quality and climate at https://nadp.slh.wisc.edu/aqaw-2024/air-quality-and-climate/
