Welcome to my GoFundMe page!

My name is Dane Blanchard. I am an environmental scientist at Trent University, Ontario, Canada, with a comprehensive background in atmospheric pollution and air quality research. Since recently completing my PhD thesis I have started an exciting new project that will measure a unique class of chemicals found within wildfire smoke. Although relatively understudied, these chemicals may substantially contribute to global climate change by heating the Earth’s atmosphere.

With your support, I will conduct series of studies that will measure these chemicals within wildfire emissions to investigate their impact on the environment and global climate. This research will further improve our understanding of wildfire emissions and hopefully inform Canadian and international climate policy.

One of the greatest challenges in academia is the constant pursuit of funding - this is even more the case in the current political and economic climate. As such, I am reaching out to you to help support my research. If you choose to do so, your donations will help finance:

• Development of novel air sampling systems

• Laboratory equipment and operations

• Field work and associated travel

• Open-access journal publication fees (so peer-reviewed papers will be free for the public to read)

If you are unable to donate at this time - please consider sharing this fundraiser over social media. Thank you for your help!

If you would like to learn more about the project you are supporting, the following text will outline my research objectives and expected scientific significance.

Background:

Climate change is contributing to the intensification of wildfire activity on a global scale. These fires result in the destructive loss of ecosystems and communities, while smoke generated from uncontrolled burning contains gases and particulate matter that are harmful to human health and the natural environment. Wildfire smoke is also rich with a unique category of organic compounds known as atmospheric brown carbon (BrC).

Brown carbon consists of a complex mixture of aerosol (a-BrC) and gaseous (g-BrC) organic molecules that are characterized by their capacity to absorb light. Owing to these properties, BrC captures solar radiation as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere - this light energy is converted into heat, which subsequently warms the surrounding atmosphere. Recent studies have established that BrC is a key factor contributing to global climate change because of this warming potential; as such, there is growing concern that BrC will escalate atmospheric warming as global wildfires continue to intensify.

Most studies investigating the atmospheric warming potential of wildfire BrC have focused on the aerosol-phase, while comparably few have measured BrC gases; in-fact, g-BrC has never been directly observed in North America. A preliminary study from China found that g-BrC originating from non-wildfire (urban) sources was nearly as efficient at absorbing light as its aerosol counterparts, which could mean that wildfire g-BrC represents an unrecognized source of atmospheric warming. As such, it is critical that we study g-BrC to understand how these compounds may contribute to climate change.

Proposed research:

The primary objective of the proposed work is to evaluate the chemical and light-absorbing properties of wildfire generated g-BrC to understand how these emissions can impact the environment and climate change. This research will involve the measurement and analysis of g-BrC (and a-BrC) in both field (i.e. wildfire affected regions in Canada) and controlled laboratory settings (i.e. environmental combustion chamber). Direct measurements of BrC will be conducted using a novel air sampling system which will enable simultaneous measurement of both gas and aerosol-phase BrC within wildfire smoke. Well-established spectroscopy methods will be applied to evaluate the light-absorbing properties of sampled BrC, while mass spectrometry techniques will also be utilized for chemical characterization.

Significance:

This project would provide some of the first-known observations of g-BrC globally, and the first measurements of wildfire generated g-BrC in North America. The findings from this investigation would help elucidate the complex interactions between wildfires and the processes of climate change. Moreover, controlled analysis of biomass combustion emissions would likely inform wildfire mitigation practices (e.g. fuel management, prescribed burns), which would be implemented to reduce BrC emissions. The novel sampling/instrumental techniques developed in this research are relatively inexpensive and would be accessible to a wide range of interest groups to simultaneously measure g-BrC and a-BrC.

Project timeline and updates:

The proposed research is planned to begin March 2026, and is expected to continue until Spring 2027 or later (depending on funding). The preliminary timeline is as follows:

Spring 2026: Development of BrC active sampling system

Summer 2026: Field-based measurements of wildfire BrC throughout Canada

Fall 2026: Measurement and analysis of BrC generated in a laboratory setting

Winter-Spring 2027: Data analysis and interpretation. These findings will be the subject of one or two scientific papers.

Over the coming months I will post updates to this page containing details about project progress and key scientific findings. If you have specific questions or suggestions regarding my research you can contact me directly through my GoFundMe profile.