All that looks green is not healthy.
Swarthmore College’s plan is to cover roughly four acres of its Cunningham Fields with synthetic turf. That is four acres of plastic carpet over plastic padding, roughly equivalent to 3 million plastic bags. The threat of this plastic leaching is difficult to assess as testing for leachates is too new of a science to be reliable. However, sunshine will weaken it. Thousands of sneaker and cleat-shod feet and weather will slough off micro and nanoplastic particles (MNPs). Due to stormwater runoff, they are likely to become persistent aquatic pollutants and, when small enough, even airborne, rising to an elevation where they contribute to the greenhouse effect.
Microplastic particles are less than five mm, and nanoplastic particles are less than one nm in size. Scientists have identified over 16,000 chemicals in plastic products. Research has linked MNPs to cell damage, inflammation, many cancers and breast cancer in particular, infertility (especially among males) and other reproductive dysfunction, developmental disorders (including premature birth, decreased baby boy genital size, and a host of other dysfunctions), obesity, heart disease, asthma, neurological and behavioral disorders such as autism, immune disorders, and hormone disruptions representing considerable disease burden.
While not all MNPs cause all these disorders, and any given plastic turf contains only a subset of MNPs and their associated infused chemical leachates, not even manufacturers of plastic know exactly what is in their products, nevermind regulators. The brain of an average 45-year-old contains as much microplastic as a plastic fork. Stormwater will wash these particles into Little Crum Creek and its tributaries, potentially poisoning pets and wildlife, and requiring treatment before the water reaches the Delaware River, which supplies drinking water downstream of the confluence with Crum Creek. Some of these chemicals can persist in freshwater for multiple generations and in the ocean, where they inevitably end up, for centuries. Via the water cycle, they even drift skyward into the clouds, raining and snowing plastic everywhere, even in the most remote locations.
Part of a letter from a risk assessment firm to Swarthmore informed the college of the harms of plastic turf by comparing them to the harms of lawn chemicals. In presenting this comparison, the Athletics Department is presenting a false dichotomy. They can manage grass turf without using either chemicals or combustion lawn equipment by spending more money on organic fertilizers and treatments and hiring more crew. Grass playing fields existed before either lawn chemicals or gasoline were invented.
The same letter on the Swarthmore Borough website from the risk assessment firm reveals that a plastic playing field can withstand four to five times as much use as a grass field because grass, being a living thing, needs time to recover, while plastic, a derivative of fossil fuels, does not. This seems to be a strong motivating factor in the Athletics Department’s preference for plastic turf.
Note that the college’s Cunningham Fields is in the midst of a residential neighborhood. Residents have families. Some of them have infants and young children whom they need to put to bed early in the evening. Some adults also need to go to bed early to get up early the next day. If the college installs athletic lighting and a sound system, it could interfere with getting the kids to sleep. Holding afternoon and evening games on the same day may compromise the quality of the grass. One might speculate that the Athletics Department could decide, based on this limitation, that it would not be worth their while to install athletic lighting for grass. If they decide that night games, and therefore lighting, are not worth it for living grass fields, they might still want a sound system, but the noise should subside before most children’s or early-bird adults’ bedtimes.
Another motivation to install plastic turf is the preference of the college athletes. Whether deserved or not, synthetic turf has a reputation as a superior surface on which to compete. Athletes also worry about getting to practice on synthetic turf ahead of away games on other schools’ turf. However, students should also be concerned about research indicating a slightly increased risk of injury on artificial turf, especially for female players and as third-generation turf ages. The extreme heat of artificial turf in the summer, which may reach 71.6 °C (169 °F), may not affect college athletes, as school would not be in session, but could be a big problem for children attending summer camp or adults in a Swarthmore Recreational Association program, if the latter obtains access.
The college is asking the Borough Council to modify the “IN-B” zoning code to suit its own interests. Cunningham Fields is in the “IN-B” zone, governed by Chapter 1259 in the code. 1259.03 limits hardscape to no more than twice the square footage of the footprint of all buildings and structures. Plastic turf is an impermeable surface, which would classify it as “hardscape” in the zoning code. Double the footprint of the toolshed and bathroom will be much less than the size of a playing field, so all the Borough Council has to do to stop the college from shrink-wrapping four acres is nothing.
Please urge the Planning Commission to recommend that the Council deny the college’s proposal to modify the IN-B zoning code to suit its purposes, or urge the Council members directly. Come to either the Borough Council Legislative Session at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9, the Planning Commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18, or the Planning and Zoning Committee meeting at 6 p.m. on Feb. 19. All meetings are in the main meeting room in Borough Hall. Public comment is limited to three minutes per person and is the first thing on the agenda, so you may leave after you make your comment.
