Anne O'Connor: Is Artificial Turf the Right Choice for the Future?

To the editor (Berkshire Eagle):

Today (Sept. 20), schoolchildren around the world, including many here in Berkshire County, will rally for the Global Climate Strike to demand that their governments and leadership take transformative action to address the climate crisis.

On this same morning, the Mount Greylock School Committee will receive bids on a proposed artificial turf field at the middle and high school, a project that advocates say is necessary in the face of wet (and increasingly wetter) weather.

On the one hand, our children are beseeching us to address the ongoing destruction of their future planetary habitat. On the other hand, we adults are continuing to look to technology to mitigate weather patterns and allow us to enjoy a lifestyle we have come to expect. It is time for us to grow up.

In the case of artificial turf, the negatives far outweigh the positives. Do we truly believe we need to replace our native grass and soil with an infrastructure of chemical-leaching plastic and toxic crumb rubber, with a shelf-life of 10 to 12 years? And are we really doing this just to give PE students more time "outdoors" (which is to say: on a coarse, hot expanse of plastic and rubber pellets they must avoid ingesting, inhaling or reclining upon)? Are we doing it, perhaps more importantly, to give more field access for competitive spring sports, where excellence is viewed as a necessity for the insane dance of college admissions and financing?

What if we taught our children a more holistic view of what the "outdoors" is and how to preserve it? A network of natural grass fields and meadows with improved soil health will help the high school campus weather the storms that we know are coming without adding more toxins and carbon into the environment. A healthy campus could include food gardens, maintained by PE students, whose understanding of food production could prove invaluable in a future of increasing food insecurity. It could include meadows where biology students could study biodiversity and pollinator ecosystems in the face of species extinction. It could include an age-appropriate natural playground for recreation and physical skill development. Spring sports crews could work on trail maintenance and trash removal, learning rehabilitation skills that could serve us all the next time a hurricane or mini-tornado blows through our area.

Artificial turf is a product of the last century, a heavy-handed solution to a self-created problem. Its consequences will be left to our children, in an environment and society in which all the priorities have changed. To paraphrase the words of youth climate leader Greta Thunberg: Change is coming, whether we like it or not. Let's align with our children to help them save the environment of their future. Urge the School Committee to reject artificial turf at its Sept. 26 meeting.

Anne O'Connor,

Williamstown