Wadle, Austin, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bucknell University, 750 Fraternity Road, Lewisburg, PA 17837, ajw030@bucknell.edu.
Mercury (Hg) is an element well known for its neurotoxic effects, but has also gained attention for its potential to disrupt human endocrine systems. Understanding how Hg behaves in our environments, ie its fate and transport, and its potential for harm requires multidisciplinary expertise. Insights from Hg monitoring in the Cedar River in Eastern Iowa and a nearby freshwater wetland completed in the late 2010s and readings of queer and feminist science studies provide a transformative example to advance the science and engineering that are needed to remediate the harms of Hg exposure. From 2016 to 2018, total mercury concentrations in the Cedar River ranged from 1.6 to 14.6 ng/L, with 80% being bound to suspended sediment particles. Concentrations of monomethylmercury (MeHg), a highly bioaccumulative species of mercury, ranged between 0.05 to 0.82 ng/L. MeHg is produced by bacteria in the wetlands that feed the Cedar River. From these concentrations and hydrological data we can estimate the export of total mercury and MeHg from the watershed. For 2017, 2.6 µg m-2 year-1 of total Hg is exported from this watershed, representing 25% of Hg deposited to this watershed via rainfall. For this same time period, 0.09 µg MeHg m-2 year-1 is exported downstream, representing 3.4% of total Hg exported from the watershed in 2017. Low concentrations of MeHg and percentages of total Hg are worth attention given the tendency of MeHg to increase in concentration as one moves up the food chain, a process termed biomagnification. Single digit percentages are familiar to queer and trans people, where we are told that our low population level occurrence means that we are not worthy of attention at the same time we are blamed for divine retribution through hurricanes and earthquakes. However, one does not need to work only in metaphor to see intersections between Hg biogeochemistry and queerness. One investigation found increased rates of homosexuality among Florida ibises as a symptom of increased MeHg exposure as it sought to explain lowered ibis populations in the 1990s. While there is value in having research of this type performed not only by dominant genders and sexualities, it is not simply enough to have queer scientific and engineering workers performing this research. This presentation will take into account lessons from queer ecologies and environmental engineering to advance a critical stance toward Hg biogeochemistry in riparian environments.
Mercury, Biogeochemistry, Queer ecologies