February 23, 2024
Board of Trustees
Campbell Union School District
155 N Third Street Campbell, California 95008
Dear Campbell Union School District Board of Trustees,
As a parent of two now grown children who went to school in Santa Clara County, and as Chair for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Plastics Pollution Prevention Team, I urge you to reject attempts to put artificial turf on our school campuses. Fortunately there are healthy, drought tolerant, high performance alternatives.
Plastic grass is bad for our children’s health, harms the environment, and doesn’t save money when lifecycle cost is factored in.
- The Santa Clara County Medical Association recommends against plastic turf playing fields citing “the health and safety of both your students and the environment.”
- The California Coastal Commission rejected an artificial turf field at U.C. Santa Barbara, citing the impacts of microplastics on the marine environment.
- The City of Millbrae has banned new artificial turf on all property – public and private - to “protect water quality...pursuant to the Clean Water Act.”
The Sierra Club wrote to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, urging them to adopt an ordinance against the installation of artificial turf on “all property within County jurisdiction, whether for landscaping or athletic fields.”
There have been multiple studies and reports focused on children’s health which show plastic turf’s harms. For example
- A study focused on high schools, published by University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, determined that high school “athletes were 58% more likely to sustain an injury on artificial turf. Football, soccer, and rugby athletes were at a significantly greater injury risk on artificial turf. Upper and lower extremity and torso injuries also occurred with higher incidence on artificial turf.”
- The San Francisco Estuary Institute’s Moffett Park Specific Plan Urban Ecology satellite images (p. 16-17) show the urban heat island effect causing “synthetic turf fields at Twin Creeks Sports Complex <to have> the highest surface temperatures” seen in the area on September 2, 2017.
- The Guardian reports “Between 2018 and 2022, at least 11 football players in the US – at the student and professional level – have died of heat stroke” and “The artificial grass that students ... play on causes even more complications. Studies suggest that synthetic turf can get up to 60F (15.5C) hotter than natural grass, radiating temperatures above 160F (71C) on summer days.”
- National Public Radio (NPR) reports that the EPA continues to add categories of the over 14,000 chemicals known as PFAS chemicals to it’s “hazardous constituents” list as they “cause a litany of ‘toxic effects’ ... including, but not limited to cancer, a decreased response to vaccinations, high cholesterol, decrease in fertility in women, preeclampsia, thyroid disorders and asthma”. PFAS chemicals and their unvetted replacement chemicals are in all artificial turf.
Scientific studies also show plastic turf’s environmental harms
- As plastics degrade, microplastics permeate the air and soil and wash into our watersheds. Microplastics are now found in the food we eat and even in newborns.
- The turf industry admits turf is not recyclable; it’s comprised of layers of different petroleum products that can’t be separated. After its 10-year lifespan it’s buried in a landfill or incinerated, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.
- Water does not permeate the plastic mat as it does natural grass or mulch. Instead of recharging aquifers, heavy rains run off, polluting waterways and burdening storm drains.
Safer natural alternatives
Outdoor play and team sport helps children learn skills, develop strength, and boost mental well-being, while nature rich environments improve children’s self-esteem, focus, participation in social settings, and even their immune system. Plus living grass and shrubs clean our air, reduce surrounding temperatures, sequester carbon and recharge our groundwater and soils naturally.
So it’s odd that school district bond monies frequently include outdoor “facilities” “improvements” highlighting artificial turf. I urge you, as a Trustee, whenever a Bond Measure is proposed or is in the planning stage, to publicly question the proposed makeup of all “facilities” changes that involve play or sports fields, or outdoor areas generally.
Quality information versus sales-pitches
We have found that grounds managers or district staff who are courted by artificial turf sales representatives can find themselves aimed at a less than good deal in the same way that one might be steered by a car dealership salesperson. As a high end district-wide school facilities consumer it’s imperative that Board Trustees are certain they are not only getting a good deal, but that they are improving children’s lives.
Sometimes when I talk about natural grass fields I’m asked whether it’s possible to have a grass playing field that is cost effective that allows “continual play” or a “predictable playing surface” which are items mentioned by artificial turf sales representatives. I’m asked “Is it possible? Who’s done it? Has anyone done this in California in a region like ours?”
Lower-maintenance long term cost-effective alternatives
Fortunately it turns out that someone in California has been doing this work and if your staff or grounds managers agree, we can bring connect them with a representative of the non profit organization Beyond Pesticides.
Beyond Pesticides has a program "Parks for a Sustainable Future" that “provides in-depth training assisting community land managers in first transitioning ... public green spaces to organic landscape management, while providing the knowledge and skills necessary to eventually transition all local public areas to these safer practices." https://www.beyondpesticides.org/resources/power-organic-parks-program
While the Beyond Pesticides approach is truly exceptional, there are other successful installers and installations in California. Athletic fields at the Manteca Unified School District, for example, are all natural grass and contact information for the East Union High School Athletic Director is provided further down.
I am certain that playing outdoors on a sports field can work hand in hand with maintaining a healthy natural grass athletic field. I would welcome a chance to talk about this in person, or over Zoom. If there is an interest I am also certain it is possible to bring in a knowledgeable Beyond Pesticides representative.
But most importantly I urge you, as a Trustee, whenever a Bond Measure is proposed or is in the planning stage, to understand the harms of plastic grass, the benefits of playing on a natural living grass field, and to publicly question the proposed makeup of all “facilities” changes that involve play or sports fields, or outdoor areas generally.
Sincerely,
Susan Hinton
Chair, Plastic Pollution Prevention Team
Environmental Stewardship Program
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
P.S. South of Sacramento, all high school athletic fields in the Manteca Unified School District have installed natural grass. The most recent installation is at East Union High School’s Dino Cunial Stadium. Contacts include Abbas Akhtar, High School Vice Principal and Athletic Director: aakhtar@musd.net, and their Groundskeeper, Rudy Valenci, rvalencia@musd.net.