Working with local organisations, Linnaeus monitors pollutants in the air while considering meteoric conditions. This is to ensure that particulate matter and gases discharged into our air are kept to an acceptable level. Particulate matter means particles in the air - things like organic dust, airborne bacteria, construction dust, and coal particles from power plants.

Coarse dust particles (PM10) are 2.5 to 10 micrometers in diameter. Sources include crushing or grinding operations and dust stirred up by vehicles on roads. These tiny particles, which are about 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair, are small enough to be inhaled past our defensive nose hairs and into our lungs.

Fine particles (PM2.5) are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller, and can only be seen with an electron microscope. Fine particles are produced from all types of combustion, including motor vehicles, power plants, residential wood burning, forest fires, agricultural burning, and some industrial processes. While PM10's story ends at the lungs, PM2.5 can pass from our lungs into our blood supply and be carried throughout our bodies thereby making them "the invisible killer".