Playing on Artificial Turf
In March of 2019, the Commonwealth Club of California presented an onstage discussion entitled “Naturally Wired: Getting Outside in the Digital Age.” The subject was, “What does it take to get people off their phones and into the outdoors?” This begs the question of how much of the outdoors will be left uncontaminated in a world of increasing plastic pollution and global warming and how degraded will that outdoors become in our urban environment? Phil Ginsberg, the head of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (SFRPD), was one of the participants onstage. In response to a question from Kathleen McCowin, President of Healthy Soccer San Francisco, concerning the cancer risks associated with playing on the artificial turf fields installed at the Beach Chalet Soccer Fields, Ginsberg began his reply with, “Now that’s a fun question.”
How is that a “fun question”? A concerned citizen asks about the cancer risks to children from playing on artificial turf and that is a “fun question”? Ginsburg sidesteps any concerns about carcinogens and goes on to say, “So here’s the thing about synthetic turf soccer fields is that they enable more people to use them and to play and they do it without actually using or conserving water. We’ve been able to add nearly 80,000 hours of playing each hour of play actually can accommodate 20 to 40 kids in a particular spot in an urban city that’s particularly important.”
It is entirely misleading to compare the hours of play at the Beach Chalet Soccer Fields (BCSF) before the renovation to hours of play after the renovation. Prior to the renovation, the SFRPD had put a fence around the field and locked the children out. The fields were deliberately neglected and kept in a state of disrepair to bolster City Fields Foundation’s case for artificial turf. No wonder the Soccer Fields were under-utilized. Phil Ginsburg as well as being head of the SFRPD also sat on the Board of City Fields Foundation, the main advocate for artificial turf playing fields in San Francisco. The additional 80,000 hours of play is easy to achieve when you’ve previously taken the fields out of play.
It’s hard to know exactly what Ginsburg means by “without actually using or conserving water,” (perhaps there is an error in the transcript?) but it’s clear that he means to make a case for the fields as using little water and thereby being environmentally sound. In fact, plastic grass requires regular washing and the run-off from the washing, or from rain, has to be treated as sewerage. The run-off is toxic and can’t be allowed to enter the ground. Even as I write, toxic tire crumb is spreading from the fields into the surrounding Park. It can’t be contained within the soccer fields. Grass fields use recycled ground water for irrigation and that water, and the rain that falls on grass fields, goes to replenish the aquafir under the Park. This ground water reservoir is also being tapped for drinking water for the first time. Contrary to Ginsburg’s claims, maintaining artificial turf wastes more water than maintaining natural grass . And how long will it be before a leak from the fields begins to contaminate groundwater? The issue of groundwater is important. San Francisco is in the midst of a campaign to replace paved over front lawns in the Sunset and Richmond districts so that rainwater will go into the ground, replenish the aquifer and not become run-off that pollutes the ocean.
The City has banned single use plastic bags. The State has banned single use plastic bags. Environmental organizations everywhere are in a campaign to lessen our use of plastics. So why would Ginsburg think it in the best interest of the citizens and the environment of San Francisco to put seven acres of plastic grass and tire crumb in Golden Gate Park within a hundred yards of Ocean Beach?
Seven acres of artificial turf that is so toxic nothing can live in it. It poisons everything it comes in contact with, including soccer players. “Toxins from tire crumb can enter the body through inhalation of particulates, fibers, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs can cause organ damage, irritation of eyes, throat and airways, and nervous system impairments. Synthetic turf can be heated to high temperatures when exposed to sunlight which, in turn, can lead to further release of VOCs” Another 2011 study found that “benzothiazole, a chemical that causes respiratory irritation and dermal sensitization, volatilizes from crumb rubber resulting in inhalation exposure.” (from the Sierra Club’s brief re. the appeal of the findings of the BCSF (EIR). There have been a number of studies since with similar results and they are available online.
When you’re playing soccer on an artificial turf field, you are not in nature; you are in a man made environment made of plastics and shredded automobile tires.