Written by: Michelle Simpson, Founder, Medshrum

Last updated: 7 September 2026

Clean air is not empty space

Air is usually treated as the thing around us. Invisible, ordinary, taken for granted until it becomes difficult to breathe.

But clean air is not background. It is part of the living architecture of a place.

It moves through lungs, leaves, soil pores, forest canopies, kitchens, bedrooms and streets. It carries scent, spores, moisture, smoke, nitrogen, pollen, exhaust, salt, dust and memory. The air over a birch forest is not the same as the air beside a motorway. The air after rain is not the same as the air held under heat. The air inside a quiet room, with a warm cup and a body finally slowing down, is not the same as the air of a rushed morning commute.

That is why International Day of Clean Air for blue skies belongs inside the Medshrum world.

The United Nations marks the day on 7 September to raise awareness of air pollution and accelerate action for cleaner air. The 2026 campaign focuses on the economic and public-health case for integrated climate and clean-air action, with UNEP and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition calling for coordinated measures that protect people, economies and the planet. WHO Europe describes clean air as central to health, climate and equity, while warning that air pollution remains one of the major environmental health risks in the region.

At first glance, this might seem far away from a mushroom tincture.

It is not.

Mushrooms are not isolated ingredients. They are expressions of place. They grow from substrate, moisture, air, wood, soil, season, temperature and microbial company. They are porous organisms in a porous world. The quality of their surroundings matters because fungi are built for exchange.

Why air matters to fungi

Fungi do not breathe like humans, but they respire. Their cells use oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Their mycelium grows through soil, wood and substrate, moving through tiny spaces where air, water and minerals meet. Fruiting bodies rise into the air to release spores, but they remain connected to the deeper organism below.

Research on fungal systems shows how intimate this relationship can be. A study on Armillaria luteobubalina described air pores connected with rhizomorphs, suggesting an internal aerating system that helps oxygen diffuse through fungal structures.

In engineered biofiltration research, fungi are studied because their aerial mycelium can come into direct contact with the gas phase. Reviews on fungal biofilters describe how fungal surfaces may absorb hydrophobic volatile organic compounds more effectively than some bacterial systems, partly because filamentous growth creates a larger contact area at the air-biofilm boundary.

That does not mean a mushroom supplement cleans polluted air in the body. It means something more grounded and, in many ways, more interesting: fungi have environmental chemistry. They interact with the atmosphere, the substrate, the minerals and the microbial life around them.

This is the quiet science behind a simple buying truth.

If an organism is that responsive to its environment, the quality of the growing environment is not a romantic extra. It is a material standard.

Fungi live at the meeting point of air, wood, moisture and mineral life.

The mushroom absorbs the world it grows in

Mushrooms are famous in environmental science because they can accumulate elements from their substrates. Reviews on mushroom quality and heavy metals explain that fruiting bodies can take up minerals from agricultural biomass, soil or wood. That can include useful minerals, but it can also include unwanted contaminants when the growing material is polluted.

This is why source matters.

Cheap mushroom language often begins at the label: focus, energy, immunity, calm. Medshrum begins earlier. Where was it grown? What was it grown on? Was the substrate clean? Was the species identified? Was the fruiting body used? Was it extracted properly? Was it tested?

Clean air, clean substrate and clean water are not separate from product quality. They are part of the product before a tincture is ever bottled.

When mushrooms are grown for food or supplementation, the environment becomes part of the integrity story. A functional mushroom extract should not be judged only by the promise on the front of a bottle. It should be judged by the proof behind it: organic certification, traceable cultivation, extraction method, testing and honest language.

This is where the clean-air conversation becomes a buying standard.

If fungi are sensitive environmental participants, premium mushroom brands should not be vague about environment. They should show their work.

Forests breathe with fungi

A forest is not just trees.

Under the visible canopy is a hidden system of roots, mycelium, bacteria, minerals, water films and air-filled pores. Mycorrhizal fungi connect with plant roots and help trees access nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. In exchange, trees provide carbon. It is one of the great mutualisms of terrestrial life.

This underground partnership is not immune to pollution.

A large European study led by researchers from Imperial College London and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew examined ectomycorrhizal fungi across forest sites in Europe. The research found that host trees, climate, soil variables and atmospheric pollution helped shape fungal communities. Imperial's report on the study described pollution as changing the fungi that nourish European trees.

That sentence should stop us for a moment.

Pollution does not only enter lungs. It changes the living relationships that make forests possible.

The Natural History Museum reported in 2025 that fungi are being threatened by pollution, habitat destruction and climate change. It noted that fungi support food security, soil fertility, nutrient cycling, decomposition and environmental clean-up, yet many species remain poorly understood. The same article highlighted that almost a third of fungi assessed on the IUCN Red List are in danger of extinction, and that old-growth pine forests in Scandinavia and Russia have suffered heavy losses since 1975.

For a mushroom brand, this cannot be treated as distant background.

Medshrum is built around functional mushrooms, but the deeper story is fungal culture: forests, food, science, standards, design and daily ritual. Clean air belongs here because it protects the living systems that make mushroom culture meaningful in the first place.

Nitrogen, air pollution and the fungal world

Plantlife's Clean Air for Wild Plants and Fungi campaign gives the issue a sharper UK frame. It explains that nitrogen pollution has built up in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and intensive farming. Transport, power stations, industry, farm fertilisers and livestock all contribute nitrogen oxides and ammonia emissions.

Deposited from air and rain, that nitrogen can create acidic conditions and directly damage wild plants, lichens and fungi. Plantlife reports that species-rich grasslands, woodlands, heathlands and peat bogs are all under threat from air pollution, and that sensitive habitats across the UK are carrying excessive nitrogen pressure.

This matters because fungi often live in fine balance.

Some thrive in disturbed, nutrient-heavy places. Others belong to older, slower habitats: grasslands with low fertility, ancient woodlands, old trees, decaying wood, clean soils and long ecological continuity. When the atmosphere changes the chemistry of a habitat, the fungal community changes with it.

That is the ecological version of the same principle Medshrum applies to supplementation.

Context changes quality.

The mushroom is never just the mushroom. It is the environment made visible.

Why organic matters more with mushrooms

Organic certification matters for many foods, but it has particular force with mushrooms because fungi are so responsive to substrate and environment.

Mushrooms can act as decomposers, accumulators and biological processors. Their ecological genius is the very reason quality control must be serious. The same qualities that make fungi fascinating in bioremediation research are the qualities that make sourcing, testing and certification non-negotiable in a premium supplement.

Organic does not mean mystical. It means standards.

For Medshrum, organic sourcing is not a soft wellness word. It is a line of discipline. It asks whether the growing environment, inputs and handling have been held to a recognisable framework. It creates a cleaner starting point for the extract, and it gives customers something stronger than a mood: a paper trail.

This is why "organic-looking" language is not enough.

Brown glass, forest photography and earthy words can make almost anything look pure. But visual style is not certification. A quality mushroom product should be able to show what species it uses, where it comes from, how it was cultivated or sourced, what part of the mushroom was used, how it was extracted, and whether the finished product is tested.

Clean Air Day reminds us that purity is not a vibe.

It is a system.

The Medshrum standard: environment before extract

In the Medshrum world, a mushroom begins before the bottle.

It begins with the place. The growing conditions. The substrate. The species identity. The decision to use organic standards. The choice to work with fruiting bodies where appropriate. The extraction method. The testing. The packaging. The refusal to make louder claims than the product can honestly hold.

This is why Medshrum's mushroom library keeps returning to the same proof points: species identity, organic certification, extraction, testing, provenance and ritual.

Those are not mechanical SEO boxes. They are the shape of trust.

Lion's Mane belongs to the morning, but it still needs Hericium erinaceus identity and proper extraction. Reishi belongs to the evening, but it still needs Ganoderma lucidum clarity and careful language. Chaga carries the romance of birch forests, but it must also carry responsible sourcing. Turkey Tail sits in gut-and-immunity conversations, but it also sits inside UK regulatory nuance. Cordyceps has a modern energy reputation, but cultivation, species status and compliance matter.

The strength is not in saying "mushrooms are powerful" louder than everyone else.

The strength is in proving that the whole chain has been considered.

Read the Medshrum Mushroom Library

What clean air asks of wellness brands

Wellness can become strangely indoor. It can shrink health into bottles, routines, trackers and personal optimisation. Clean Air Day breaks that spell.

It reminds us that health is environmental. It is political, communal, biological, urban, rural and atmospheric. No person can supplement their way out of dirty air. No luxury ritual can replace public responsibility. But the best rituals can keep us facing the right direction.

For Medshrum, this means refusing to separate personal wellbeing from ecological literacy.

It means making products that feel beautiful enough to use, but also serious enough to question. It means speaking about mushrooms as organisms with histories, habitats and chemistry, not as trend ingredients waiting to be packaged. It means caring about the invisible: air, soil, extraction, testing, sourcing, fungal networks and the quiet labour of decomposition.

Clean air also asks brands to be less wasteful.

Packaging matters because products do not vanish after use. Energy matters because production has a footprint. Sourcing matters because demand can damage the very landscapes a brand claims to love. Claims matter because exaggerated wellness promises pollute the culture in their own way.

There is such a thing as clean language.

It tells the truth with beauty.

For a cultural mushroom brand, this is the sharper work: to make the invisible legible. Not just the extract in the bottle, but the conditions behind it. Not just a benefit word, but the rhythm it belongs to. Not just a forest image, but a serious respect for forests as living systems. Clean Air Day gives Medshrum a way to speak about all of this with more depth: air as atmosphere, air as ecology, air as a quality question, air as the beginning of a ritual.

How to build a Clean Air Day ritual

International days can feel distant if they remain as hashtags. The useful question is: what does this ask of my actual day?

Start with air.

Open a window if the outdoor air quality is good. Check local air quality if you live near traffic, industry, wildfire risk or heavy pollution. Walk away from the busiest road when you can. Choose a route with trees. Let the day begin with breath before inbox.

Then look at the materials around you.

What are you buying? What is over-packaged? What is certified, traceable and tested? Which brands show proof, and which rely on atmosphere? Which routines make your life feel clearer without asking you to become someone else?

A Medshrum ritual should be small enough to repeat.

Lion's Mane beside morning coffee. Reishi beside the evening cup. Chaga when the weather turns darker. Turkey Tail when you are thinking about gut-health rhythms. Cordyceps before movement. Maitake, Shiitake, Tremella and Enoki as reminders that mushrooms belong to kitchens and culture as much as supplement shelves.

That is the point of ritual: not performance, but relationship.

What to look for in a mushroom supplement after Clean Air Day

If this subject makes you look at mushroom products differently, good. That is the work of a useful blog.

Look for clear species identity. A product should name the mushroom properly, ideally with the Latin species where relevant.

Look for organic certification, not just earthy language.

Look for fruiting body clarity, and be wary of vague blends that do not explain whether they use fruiting body, mycelium or grain-heavy material.

Look for extraction method. Mushrooms have chitin-rich cell walls, so extraction is central to making a serious tincture or powder.

Look for testing. A premium brand should be comfortable talking about purity and quality control.

Look for restraint. The brands making the most dramatic health promises are not always the strongest. Often, the most trustworthy product is the one with the clearest proof and the calmest language.

Read the Medshrum guide to choosing a functional mushroom supplement

The founder note

Medshrum was never meant to be another supplement brand shouting benefits into a crowded room.

It was built as a mushroom world: Nordic forests, organic certification, extraction, testing, circular thinking, kitchen culture, morning focus, evening return, winter depth, gut ecology, movement and ritual. The point was never to make mushrooms feel louder. It was to make them feel more considered.

Clean Air Day belongs here because it asks us to care about what we cannot always see.

Air is invisible until it fails us. Soil is invisible until it is exhausted. Mycelium is invisible until a mushroom appears. Standards are invisible until a brand shows them. A good ritual is invisible until you notice your day has a different rhythm.

To choose a mushroom well is to choose the world behind it.

That is the Medshrum way: start with the living system, then make the extract.

Frequently asked questions

What is International Day of Clean Air for blue skies?

International Day of Clean Air for blue skies is a United Nations day marked each year on 7 September. It raises awareness of air pollution, public health, climate action, ecosystems and the need for coordinated clean-air measures.

What does Clean Air Day have to do with mushrooms?

Mushrooms and fungi are deeply shaped by their environments. Research shows that fungi interact with air, soil, substrates, pollutants and tree roots. For Medshrum, Clean Air Day is a reminder that mushroom quality begins with clean growing conditions, sourcing, organic standards and testing.

Do mushrooms absorb pollution?

Many fungi can bind, transform or accumulate substances from their surroundings, depending on species and environment. This is why fungi are studied in mycoremediation, biofiltration and heavy-metal research, and why edible or supplement mushrooms need responsible sourcing, clean substrate and quality testing.

Can fungi help clean polluted air?

In engineered systems, fungal biofilters are studied for removing certain volatile organic compounds from polluted air streams. That is environmental biotechnology, not a supplement claim. It shows how powerful fungal chemistry can be when used in the right context.

Why is nitrogen pollution bad for fungi?

Excess nitrogen from traffic, industry and intensive farming can be deposited from air and rain, changing soil chemistry and damaging sensitive wild plants, lichens and fungi. Plantlife describes nitrogen in the air as one of the major threats to wild plants and fungi in the UK.

Why is organic certification important for mushroom supplements?

Organic certification provides a recognised standard around how ingredients are grown and handled. With mushrooms, this matters because fungi are closely connected to their substrates and surroundings. It helps separate genuine quality from products that only look natural.

Which Medshrum mushroom fits a clean-air ritual?

Start with the ritual you want to keep. Lion's Mane fits morning focus, Reishi fits evening calm, Chaga fits winter depth, Cordyceps fits movement, and Turkey Tail fits gut-and-immunity routines. The best choice is one bottle, one daily moment and visible quality behind it.

Science shelf

• UNEP: International Day of Clean Air for blue skies 2026
• WHO Europe: International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, making every breath matter
• Climate & Clean Air Coalition: 7th International Day of Clean Air for blue skies
• Natural History Museum: Pollution and deforestation pushing fungi towards extinction
• Plantlife: Clean Air for Wild Plants and Fungi
• Imperial College London: Pollution hits the fungi that nourish European trees
• Nature: Environment and host as large-scale controls of ectomycorrhizal fungi
• The ISME Journal: Forest tree growth is linked to mycorrhizal fungal composition and function across Europe
• Nature Reviews Microbiology: Exploiting fungi in bioremediation of hazardous chemicals
• Journal of Fungi: Mushroom quality related with substrate bioaccumulation and translocation of heavy metals
• PubMed: Fungal biotechnology for air-pollution mitigation
• Fungal Biology: Armillaria mycelium develops air pores that conduct oxygen
• Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology: Fungi in biofiltration to remove volatile hydrophobic pollutants

Medshrum products are food supplements. They should not be used as treatments, cures or substitutes for medical care. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or managing a health condition, speak with a healthcare professional before changing your supplement routine.