08/05/2026
Boozhoo and Happy Air Quality Awareness Week!
🍁 The Fond du Lac Air Program celebrates Air Quality Awareness each year, and to celebrate, the Air Program is highlighting different aspects of inanaamowin (air quality) each day this week!
🍁 Today's theme is "Air, Animals, & Plants"
🐟 Many organisms are impacted by pollution that can work its way into our environment. An example of this is mercury pollution. Mercury pollution is a global concern, as it bioaccumulates in organisms causing detrimental health impacts further up the food chain. Bioaccumulation is the gradual process of chemicals accumulating within a singular organism.
🐟 Mercury is emitted in the air from a variety of sources. It then lands upon the landscape, runs into our waterways, and is taken into the food web by very small organisms where it takes the form of methylmercury. From there it can make its way into organisms that feed on smaller organisms, it is absorbed by the fish that eat those organisms, and then onward to larger fish, which humans and large wildlife may then eat.
🐟Due to the negative health effects of mercury, it’s good to follow fish consumption advisories and recommendations. Here's a link to more information on fish consumption guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health: https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/fish/index.html
🍁 Mercury can also be absorbed by plants! One of the ways that the Fond du Lac Air Program monitors for mercury deposition on our landscape is through leaf litter collection in the fall. These samples are collected and brought to a lab for analysis of mercury content. If you happen to stumble upon a group of clear plastic bins out in the middle of the woods in the fall, that may just be one of our leaf litter collection efforts!
🍁 Efforts continue to be made to monitor mercury deposition and it’s impacts in our environment here at Fond du Lac, and inter-agency efforts are underway that aim to reduce local emissions of mercury where possible.
💡 One way we can all help reduce mercury’s prominence in the environment is by disposing of waste appropriately. Some thermostats, thermometers, fluorescent lightbulbs (including compact fluorescents (CFLs)), some batteries, and many other objects you might find at home may contain mercury! Check out Resource Renew’s website on mercury for more information regarding products that may contain mercury and proper disposal: https://wlssd.com/education/pollution-prevention/mercury/
🐟 For more information about inanaamowin, keep an eye out for our articles in the FDL newspaper, watch for air quality related posts on this page, and check out the FDL Air Program website at https://www.fdlband.org/services/resource_management/environmental_programs/air/index.php
💚 Chi-miigwech for following along with Air Quality Awareness Week! 💚
🐟 Image description: hand cradling a young ooga (walleye) above a visual demonstrating how mercury bioaccumulates in the food web.
