QUESTION FAKE GRASS in LGUSD.

Ph.D. Sarah-Jeanne Royer of  University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography  urges prohibiting the use of synthetic turf in playgrounds and athletic field surfaces. Because synthetic turfs are made out of polyethylene, they are responsible for emitting methane, CO2, and other  greenhouse gases.  They are therefore potentially contributing to climate change. "Synthetic turf has a huge surface area --much larger than the size of the field-- because of all the small plastic “blades” in this large carpet of fake grass."  This huge surface area emits much higher amounts of greenhouse gases than a flat sheet of polyethylene. As the surface area of plastic continues to increase due to weathering and break-down, there is a tremendous increase in off-gassing of methane.  "For example, [polyethylene] powders off-gas methane 488 times more than when the same weight of [polyethylene] is in pellet form."  "While the negative effects of pl...

Adequate risk assessment studies of the safety of artificial turf have NOT been conducted. D ig deeper than the marketing claims provided by the artificial turf industry to learn what chemicals artificial turf products contain and what the potential long-term health risks may be.  (If you're in LGUSD, while you may disregard the cautions about recycled tires since LGUSD is proposing an alternative infill material, plenty of chemical concerns remain for the products LGUSD is proposing.) Who do you trust?  Mt. Sinai's Children's Environmental Health Center or misguided (albeit well-meaning) influencers parroting the marketing tactics used by the synthetic turf industry?

LGUSD is in the process of designing elementary school outdoor classrooms outfitted with artificial turf. The imitation-grass blades they've chosen will be coated w/antimicrobials. Antimicrobials are associated w/human & environmental harm.   Kids need more daily exposure to nature, not more daily exposure to biocides. Outfitting #LGUSD elementary school outdoor classrooms w/antimicrobially-coated green plastic carpets made to imitate nature is not an "upgrade". View full antimicrobial video: https://t.co/93kQlVqYmd pic.twitter.com/JCZfv5u7hj — Question Fake Grass (@QuestnFakeGrass) February 17, 2022 Reduce unnecessary use of chemicals from the 6 classes of concern. Skip the artificial turf, especially for little kids. Image from SixClasses.org , The Six Classes Approach to Reducing Chemical Harm

Image from  socialmediaweek.org For more info, join the " Los Gatos Community Discussion: Artificial Turf on LGUSD fields ” Facebook Group or email questionplasticgrass@gmail.com  

Image from idiomsandslang.com . Are we confident that board members, teachers and administration, and community members explicitly advocating for use of plastic grass on our elementary school campuses  are  well-informed of its pros and cons?   Are we confident they've been presented with alternatives?   Have they been presented with attractive, inviting, low maintenance corridor and courtyard designs without plastic grass?  Have they been presented with  an overly simplistic approach to water conservation on the fields? ? Terese McNamee, Director of Maintenance and Operations Thomas Lettiere, and our landscape designer Devin Conway have all repeatedly stated publicly they have no stake in the game, that they are not advocating for plastic grass, and that they are simply providing options for the  the  decision-makers, the  LGUSD Board of Trustees .  Presumably stakeholders are relying on the LGUSD board and the district t...

Image from ehhi.org's  synthetic turf report . It is a misconception that LGUSD has  adequately addressed safety concerns by  proposing to use an artificial turf system with an alternative infill to recycled tire crumb.   CA Dept of Toxic Substances Control is not yet ready to conclude artificial turf is non-toxic even if consumers use a version without recycled tires in it. The department is currently working on an evaluation . The information below remains true for artificial turf installations both with and without recycled tire crumb infill. Safe Healthy Playing Fields, Inc. (SHPFI)  reports  "The fact is, no government agency has concluded artificial turf is safe - not the Environmental Protection Agency nor the Consumer Product Safety Comission .  Only the industry which gains financially from your use of these fields has paid consultants to conclude safety from very limited, inconclusive tests. There are no tests showing synturf is safe. There ...

Share your input with the decision-makers, the LGUSD Board of Trustees. Images from lgusd.org Implore LGUSD to do these 2 things: Keep artificial turf OFF elementary school campuses ENTIRELY. Rescind the conclusion from the November 2021 district staff report that artificial turf is safe for use on school campuses.  This conclusion can not be drawn from the evidence available.  There remain an abundance of serious causes for concern.  Even California's Department of Toxic Substances Control is questioning the safety of artificial turf including versions NOT made with recycled tires researching artificial turf as part of its 2021-2023 Priority Product Work Plan. LGUSD has NOT sufficiently addressed artificial turf safety concerns by proposing to use a version made without recycled tires. Take action here .

Image from  2021-2023 Priority Product Work Plan CA Dept of Toxic Substances Control is evaluating whether artificial turf should be classified as a product that needs to be labelled as toxic. The agency has added artificial turf to its 2021-2023 Priority Product Work Plan for research and study to determine whether it needs to be added as a Priority Product.   If the agency concludes artificial turf is a Priority Product, it will become a requirement for manufacturers to label the toxic chemicals in it so that consumers are aware.    The fact the product is under investigation indicates artificial turf may be lacking in adequate regulation. Below is the text regarding artificial turf that appears in the final plan. Note that the toxicity concerns are not limited to tire crumb rubber. CA Dept of Toxic Substances Control is not yet ready to conclude artificial turf is non-toxic even if consumers use a version without recycled tires in it. If our own state a...

Background image from FairWarning Attention supporters The petition below was started 11-12-2021 and was closed 1-24-2022.   Please sign our newer petition at https://www.change.org/NoPlasticTurfLGUSD , even if you signed the petition below.   Why?  Because there's reason to be concerned the petition below may have been misconstrued by leadership as primarily representing opposition to tire crumb rubber infill, even though LGUSD, from the start, has been proposing to use an alternative infill product. Thank you for your support!      Backgrounder Los Gatos Union School District is on the verge of making significant changes to its elementary school campus landscapes with regard to play fields, classroom courtyards and outdoor play spaces, including one specifically for kindergarteners. Artificial turf is being considered for many of these surfaces. The district management staff have concluded, without sufficient evidence, that artificial tu...

Image from The Story of Stuff  video in this post on "externalized costs". LGUSD is proposing to install artificial turf on its campuses.   Artificial turf contains PFAS. PFAS have been linked to reproductive problems, cancer and other health issues. Concerns have become grave enough that, as of just recently, California has: banned PFAS chemicals from items for young children and food packaging. (Beware: Artificial turf remains unregulated . Artificial turf is, incredulously , not classified as a childrens' product.) forbidden manufacturers of cookware to label their products as free of any particular toxic chemical if the pots or pans contain PFAS.  restricted use of environmental labels claiming product compostability or recyclability. PFAS is so persistent and so pervasive in our environment that, coupled with the fact that it bioaccumulates in our bodies, it's now found almost universally in blood and breastmilk samples tested! However, it is completely il...

Two of the experts:  Dr. Graham Peaslee ( i mage from  nd.edu ) ,  Concurrent Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Professor of Physics, University of Notre Dame   and Kyla Bennett (image from peer.org ),  Director of Science Policy at  PEER PFAS chemicals ("forever chemicals" being banned in various products) are just one of the major concerns related to toxicity of artificial turf.   Below, Dr. Graham Peaslee explains in detail why the PFAS in artificial turf should be a major concern.   T he implications for children's contact with the "grass" fibers is yet unknown, but what IS known is that they could contaminate our waterways and contaminate our drinking water . Dr. Kyla Bennett speaks after Dr. Peaslee to further explain. PFAS has been found in all the fields they have tested.   Dr. Bennett refutes one of the industry experts' assertions that PFAS are safe.   Dr. Bennett concludes with: " I do not understand the sentime...

Image of plastic turf dumped near a wetland from a coalition in a town that now has a moratorium on artificial turf installations . Yes, this is the same Dr. Debbie Tatro that has  taken issue with the artificial turf safety assertions provided by LGUSD's consultant , David Teter. Here is Dr. Tatro's letter to the LGUSD school board:

Image from student Ryan Basso's " The Balance of Opinion " LGUSD district management staff  continue to insist artificial turf is safe d espite assertions from experts and government agencies that it is  premature to conclude artificial turf is safe. LGUSD's conclusion of safety is based, seemingly entirely, on the word of the sole consultant they hired explicitly to provide safety reassurances, David Teter.   Why are district management staff: neglecting to seek out and consider the input of at least one of the  experts that finds it  premature to conclude artificial turf is safe? failing to acknowledge concerns that clearly continue to be held by government agencies?  failing to acknowledge the narrow context of Teter's product analysis? so willing to adopt Teter's advice knowing that not only was  he hired by the artificial turf industry to get  one of our state agencies  to dismiss its concerns, he actually  failed  to do so?...

The Story of Stuff  explains "Externalized Costs" in the video below. As apparent from the financials in the district presentation, artificial turf will cost the district at least a million dollars more than natural grass. While that's already a jaw-dropping amount of money, it does not even reflect the full true costs of artificial turf products. This often goes unacknowledged because true costs are not reflected on financial expense records. There are costs to artificial turf that neither the district nor the community will pay with cash from their pockets. These are called "externalized costs". These costs include the costs to environmental and public health and extend beyond LGUSD campuses. These costs are incurred and effect real people along the entire length of this product's lifecycle, from the toxic pollution that comes from harvesting of natural resources, through manufacture, through degradation over years of exposure to the elements and foot ...

Image from Mt. Sinai CEHC . The  Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai   strongly discourages artificial turf installations. While the letter below is addressed to another set of decision-makers in another community (yes, there are many communities across the country beseeching their electeds to take a pause before pulling this trigger), these points aren't specific to the community the letter is addressed to.

Want to know what it's like to learn your children have been drinking contaminated water ? Communities like Flint as well as those that neighbor chemical companies can tell you. Image from cargofilm-releasing.com Researchers ask "Are Fluoropolymers Really of Low Concern for Human and Environmental Health and Separate from Other PFAS?"   The answer: " The evidence reviewed in this analysis does not find a scientific rationale for concluding that fluoropolymers are of low concern for environmental and human health. Given fluoropolymers’ extreme persistence; emissions associated with their production, use, and disposal; and a high likelihood for human exposure to PFAS, their production and uses should be curtailed except in cases of essential uses." So   we can't conclude PFAS is of "low concern for environmental and human health".  But is there even PFAS in artificial turf?  Yes... Consultant Dr. Laura Green has traditionally been someone the art...