Artificial Turf has been sold to countless school districts and city parks as the cheaper, lower maintenance, water-efficient alternative to natural turf. Turns out has more expensive life cycle costs, causes much more student injury, is full of hazardous materials and cleaning agents and needs a good deal of water to disinfect and cool down its plastic surface. Segment One: Dr. Cindy Russell Santa Clara County Medical Association Environmental Health Committee on the profound health and environmental impacts of artificial turf. https://www.sccma.org/programs/environmental-health.aspx https://www.sccma.org/Portals/19/Artificial%20Turf%20Letter%20SCCMA%20to%20%20Fremont%20High%20School%20District%20Oct%2011%2C%202023%20%20%281%29.pdf Segment Two: Leanne McAuliffe & Cortney Jansen Community for Natural Play Surfaces on their recent history of local activism in Santa Clara County Districts. Segment Three: Jodie Sheffield Delta Bluegrass on developing premium quality turfgrass sod for high traffic and water conservation and the surprisingly favorable economics of keeping fields real. https://www.deltabluegrass.com/sports-turf/sport-turf-services/ State Action on Artificial Turf Considering the difficulties of educating and convincing individual local school board officials to act in the interests of their students and community, it looks like the best bet for sustainable fields lies with state action. SB 676, signed by Governor Newsom, corrects the previous definition of “drought tolerant landscaping” so that it does not include synthetic grass or artificial turf. Existing law from 2015 prevented a locality from enforcing artificial turf bans. Now California cities like Millbrae and San Marino have prohibited fake plastic lawns. AB 1423, vetoed by Governor Newsom for lack of a regulatory oversight mechanism, prohibited new artificial turf installations that contained PFAS substances. The Governor “strongly supported the author’s intent” and directed Cal EPA’s Department of Toxic Substances Control to engage with the author and the Legislature and consider alternative approaches. Artificial turf is listed as a research priority in Cal EPA’s product work planning. Cal EPA lists artificial turf as one of their key research areas in their current strategic plan. SB 499, the Extreme Heat Action Plan of 2023, was held in the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File. It would require school facility outdoor surfaces, such as cement, asphalt, and artificial turf to be replaced at their respective end of life with a surface with higher specific heat, like grass, trees, wood chips, etc. Versions of SB 1423 and SB 499 are likely to reappear in the current legislative session. Links: https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/california-synthetic-turf-pfas/ https://www.safehealthyplayingfields.org/ https://www.safehealthyplayingfields.org/cost-grass-vs-synthetic-turf https://www.ydr.com/in-depth/news/2019/11/18/old-artificial-turf-fields-pose-huge-waste-problem-environmental-concerns-across-nation/2314353001/ https://www.beyondplastics.org/fact-sheets/synthetic-turf https://mountsinaiexposomics.org/artificial-turf/ https://youtu.be/iV-Mh_q0gMI https://nflpa.com/posts/only-natural-grass-can-level-the-nfls-playing-field https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/valleywater.org.if-us-west-2/f2-live/s3fs-public/Artificial%20Turf%20Fact%20Sheet_042922%20SL.pdf https://www.center4research.org/injuries-related-to-artificial-turf/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35593739/ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2134/itsrj2016.10.0848
