May 29, 2024
Architectural Digest
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New York, NY 10007
Via email: contact@archdigest.com
Ref: Architectural Digest Issue June 2023, Tip# 17 on Artificial Turf
Dear Architectural Digest Editor,
Having just read author Katherine McLaughlin’s article 19 Low-Maintenance Landscaping Ideas—From Artificial Turf to Xeriscaping from June 25, 2023, as Chair for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter’s Plastic Pollution Prevention Team I must respond. The premise that landscapes can be designed to be easy to maintain and use lower amounts of water while attracting wildlife is both appealing and easy to demonstrate.
However Tip 17, Look into artificial grass encourages readers to use a hardscaping material that repels wildlife. Not only does synthetic plastic grass, as a hardscape, kill microorganisms and worms in the soil, in sunlight it can heat to as much as 70°F above ambient air temperature (https://tinyurl.com/TuriPdf), causing a localized heat island. These two effects alone will make each installation of “lawn” a wasteland for birds, pollinators, squirrels, lizards and other fauna. Unfortunately, plastic grass does even more harm as it sheds plastic pieces, along with their associated chemical conditioners and additives, that find their way into the watershed, polluting water for both human and wildlife consumption. Finally, plastic wears out, unlike living plants, including lawn, that can reproduce and heal themselves. When it wears out in approximately 8 - 15 years, depending upon its manufacture and quality, artificial grass must be disposed of and cannot be composted like real grass. Unfortunately, the plastics in artificial grass cannot be sustainably recycled and therefore it is most likely to be dumped into landfill where it will, again, break down and enter watersheds, creeks and, eventually, the ocean.
Furthermore, environmental as well as health organizations have taken a strong position against artificial turf because of toxics hazards and long-term impacts of artificial turf on public health. (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/15/athletes-higher-pfas-levels-artificial-turf)
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter therefore urges Architectural Digest to remove artificial turf, as well as other unnecessary plastic products, from its list of materials approved for inclusion in its design articles, both for indoor and outdoor consideration.
Architectural Digest is and has been a respected source for both aesthetic and educational information to the architectural and landscape architectural professions as well as for the public. For this reason, we believe that your leadership and attention to this timely health and sustainability issue is relevant and important.
Sustainably yours,
Susan Hinton, Chair
Plastic Pollution Prevention Team
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter