2023-Sierran-digital - Flipbook - Page 4
Arti昀椀cial Turf: an Exposé
By Daniel McCarthy
Across the Commonwealth, arti昀椀cial turf installations
are becoming increasingly popular for sports 昀椀elds.
Instead of using grass, arti昀椀cial turf 昀椀elds are made
from small pieces of plastic and rubber designed to
simulate grass cover and cushion impact with the
ground. Unfortunately, communities don’t recognize
the harmful impacts that turf has on our environment,
climate, or public health. We need to educate the
public on turf so municipalities can make safer,
environmentally responsible decisions for recreational
spaces. We are supporting activists across the state to
oppose turf 昀椀elds in their communities and hold local
governments accountable for safe and environmentally
responsible 昀椀eld management.
AJ Moses, a member of the Massachusetts Chapter’s
Toxics Team and board member for the town of Berlin’s
Conservation Commision, has collected data on arti昀椀cial
turf across the state. To date, AJ has identified 604 turf
fields in 166 different municipalities, many of which he
personally visited. He’s especially concerned about the
size and scale of turf installations. Using his dataset of
average 昀椀eld sizes and average weight of surface turf
materials, AJ estimates “the average 昀椀eld contains
about 66,000 pounds of plastic - just for the surface!”
Building outdoor 昀椀elds from plastics and rubber
exposes the environment to toxic chemicals, including
per- and poly昀氀uorinated alkylated substances (PFAS).
PFAS are a class of chemicals that cause adverse health
effects in humans, and are called “forever chemicals”
for their ability to persist in the environment without
degrading. A report from the Massachusetts Toxics Use
Reduction Institute (TURI) states that multiple PFAS
chemicals have been found in synthetic turf materials
(https://bit.ly/3QOdFLo). Throughout the decadeslong life cycle of an arti昀椀cial turf 昀椀eld, rainwater
and irrigation will wash microplastics and chemicals
like PFAS into the soil and groundwater. This type of
contamination is unacceptable for our communities and
environment.
Additionally, arti昀椀cial turf often replaces existing
grass 昀椀elds. Installing one full-size 昀椀eld removes
two acres of an ecosystem that stores carbon,
exacerbating the climate crisis. Replacing grass with
layers of petrochemical-derived plastics creates a ‘heat
island effect’, which affects athletes on the 昀椀eld and
surrounding neighborhoods. On hot summer days in
the Boston area, recorded surface temperatures for
arti昀椀cial turf 昀椀elds were as high as 50°F hotter than
nearby grass surfaces!
‘Organic 昀椀eld management’ is an excellent alternative
to arti昀椀cial turf. In June, the Chapter hosted Rebekah
Thomson from The Field Fund to discuss organic 昀椀eld
management. The Field Fund maintains and renovates
natural grass 昀椀elds for towns on Martha’s Vineyard, and
provides guidance for other communities. Thomson
highlighted how focused, data-driven maintenance
allows grass 昀椀elds to support intensive use while being
more cost effective than arti昀椀cial turf.
The Massachusetts chapter of the Sierra Club has
resources on our site detailing more data about arti昀椀cial
turf 昀椀elds. We encourage interested readers to join
our Toxic Team meetings or reach out to our staff to
learn about how your city or town approaches 昀椀eld
management. To create change we have to engage with
municipal leaders on these critical issues of health,
climate, and environment.
Meet Brooke!
Hello! My name is Brooke Van Ackooy, from New York (state, not the city,
very important distinction) but I completed my undergraduate in Boston at
Emmanuel College majoring in International Studies. During my time there I had
an amazing internship at the Massachusetts State House in the of昀椀ce of Senator
John F. Keenan. Currently, I’m pursuing my master’s at Boston University
in the global policy program with a concentration in environmental policy.
Environmental justice and climate research became an interest of mine while
working on my senior thesis about Brazil’s recent environmental policies on
the indigenous populations there. In my free time, I enjoy playing video games,
painting, needle-felting, working out, and reading.
Continue reading on our blog: https://bit.ly/meet-brooke
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