ABSTRACT
This chapter considers one shape-shifting air pollutant, particulate matter, as it transforms environments, bodies, and politics in the ongoing process of planetary incineration. In the process of building a network for sensing particulate matter, the Citizen Sense project engaged with multiple thresholds for detecting pollution, and in the process developed practices for sensing and being sensitized to pollution. Pollution is accumulating in planetary atmospheres. Carbon dioxide, along with ozone, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter are amassing in airspaces as residual substances from the burning of fossil fuels. These pollutants variously lead to a more constricting and less breathable world. Particles are differentially distributed material-chemical traces that accumulate in areas of extensive manufacturing and production. The citizen-sensing practices discussed here are specific to the problem of particulate matter and air pollution. Citizen-sensing practices emerge within this space as a way to document pollutants that are not monitored and to bring pollution patterns into resolution through different modes of inquiry.
