QUESTION FAKE GRASS in LGUSD.

Image of Samuel Liu from his  school newspaper where he wrote an in-depth piece about concerns over the district's artificial turf installations Our elementary school kids are trusting grownups to be educated on the issues and advocate for them.  These kids are trusting LGUSD to make a safe decision here.  However, older students in the community have spoken out themselves in the past against artificial turf. In April 2015, Los Gatos High School student, Zoe Lam, penned this piece: " LGHS needs to listen to its constituents' opinions and concerns.   Plan resulting from Measure E is replacing ALL five athletic fields with artificial turf at LGHS. This is NOT the right choice." A petition started by Lam garnered over 300 signatures.  " Keep Natural Grass on Helm Field...  Grass on LGHS’s football field, Helm Field, should be reinstalled after renovations ."  View the petition to read the numerous and insightful comments from Los Gatos community members...

Image from businessinsider.com Think installing plastic grass constitutes doing your part to respond to climate change?  Think again.   Trace that messaging back to its source.  The source is NOT  Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD).  The source is most likely an entity that profits  when you buy an artificial turf system... probably someone in the petroleum industry, plastics  industry , chemical  industry  or artificial turf industry.   The companies polluting the planet have spent millions to make you think carpooling and recycling will save us . These companies have also spent millions to make you think installing plastic grass will save us. If you have fallen under the spell of those that make money when you buy plastic grass, it's time to wake up.  Plastic grass is NOT an environmentally-responsible way to deal with drought . Our water district, SCVWD, like other districts throughout the state: promotes water conservati...

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?...

Image from nasa.gov . With climate change, heat waves are becoming more frequent, more intense, and longer lasting. As humans replace natural ground cover and vegetation with artificial materials (like roofs, pavements, and synthetic turf), these surfaces significantly change how the land absorbs and releases energy. These surfaces contribute to the "urban heat island effect", the phenomenon where developed areas get hotter than nearby rural areas. Additional air conditioning is required to counter-balance the increased temperatures, thereby increasing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. This is a vicious cycle. As climate change pushes many cities towards dangerous temperatures, it's important we retain living landscapes to mitigate excessive heat. Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirms that "elevated temperatures from heat islands can affect a community’s environment and quality of life in multiple ways: Compromise...

The Heat Island Effect. Source: Dustin Phillips on Flickr. Image featured in  "No More Pavement! The Problem of Impervious Surfaces" by Columbia Climate School Indeed one motive often cited for artificial turf usage is water conservation.  T he LGUSD slides from the 11/8/21 Town Hall meeting highlighted water conservation as a prime justification for covering school grounds with giant sheets of plastic. However, using water conservation to justify plastic grass is an argument sorely lacking in perspective. And it contributes to the false dichotomy that is this narrow set of district options being discussed. To conserve water, should we entirely sacrifice: two of the few remaining swaths of easily-accessible, publicly available living landscapes in our increasingly urbanized downtown?   the exposure to nature they provide 1000+ Los Gatos children twice every schoolday? the cooling they provide to counter the heat-island effect of our urban environment?  the biodi...

The downsides of using artificial turf outweigh the upsides. Image from aprilsmith.org . Go here to review the downsides to using artificial turf on campus areas OTHER than the play fields. Question whether motives for installing artificial turf outweigh these compelling reasons to dismiss artificial turf, especially given that alternatives are within reach... WATER USE UNDERESTIMATED - Uses water for cooling, cleaning, maintenance.  Required to maintain warranty. MAINTENANCE UNDERESTIMATED - Needs continual cleaning of dried-on sweat, spit, blood, vomit, dog poop/pee , bird poop, food, gum. Sweeping/leaf blowing. Brushing to keep pile up. Repairs. Requires regular testing of surface and infill hardness for SAFETY.  Warranties have restrictions inconducive to elementary school multi-use fields (no lawn chairs, no staking of bounce houses or tents, discourage food and beverage, etc.) HEAT ISLAND - Heats campuses, kids can’t play on it on hot days, endangers surrounding tr...

The downsides of using artificial turf outweigh the upsides. Image from aprilsmith.org . Below is a pared down list of downsides to using artificial turf, focused on concerns most relevant to areas of campus beyond the fields.  This includes spaces designed to be used as "outdoor classrooms" where it's envisioned the community's 5-11 year old students will gather, eat, and play during class time, recess, and lunch, such as outdoor corridors and courtyards, including a courtyard used daily by kindergarteners.   To review the downsides to using artificial turf on the play fields, see our original flyer . Question whether motives for installing artificial turf outweigh these compelling reasons to dismiss artificial turf, especially given that alternatives are within reach... HEAT - Artificial turf, even with plant-based infill, gets HOT.  For example, on a sunny, 80 degree day, it might be 110 degrees on artificial turf with cork infill.  Last schoolyear, we had ...