Dear MPCSD Board, Superintendent, Principals, Menlo Park City Council
& Atherton City Council,

On behalf of the Environmental Committees at Encinal and Laurel
Elementary Schools, we write to express our concern about the
proposed plan to remove the only natural play space left at Encinal
and replace it with artificial turf. While it is generally agreed
that recreational facilities are an important and vital part of our
community, the location and form of such facilities should be
carefully balanced with the overall needs of the community. In this
case, installation of a high-use artificial turf soccer field over an
elementary school's only grass play field is not a wise use of
resources. Encinal's grass play field should be preserved first and
foremost for the use and benefit our K-5 children, with their safety,
comfort, enjoyment and education being the primary considerations.
We respectfully ask that all self-interested parties, be they
baseball, soccer or some other group requesting future use of the
Encinal field, keep this in mind.

There are many environmental issues associated with artificial turf.
The most obvious is global warming, the heating up of these turfs,
which has a direct and obvious effect on our student body. Research
by Initiative WM-Rasen e.v.-Weissbuch showed that a natural grass
football pitch produces enough oxygen for 120 people per year.
Football & Stadium Management magazine, January 2005, wrote that one
acre of natural grass compensates for 4.5 tons of carbon dioxide.

Last summer Stuart Gaffin, an atmospheric scientist whose focus is
excess heat in urban areas and storm-water runoff, said synthetic
turf temperatures measured at 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, creating
what he described as "heat islands." Artificial turf does not
eliminate the need for irrigation which is necessary under warm
conditions in order to lower the temperature on the field through
evaporation.

The Encinal field will be in full sun. There are no trees for shade
and besides a play structure, the only other play space is asphalt.
How will the hundreds of children be cooled during recess if not by
the lawn, which provides air-conditioning and pollution-abatement?
For example, on a block of eight houses, the front lawns have the
cooling effect of 70 tons of air-conditioning. Imagine what a two
acre field has! According to MIssissippi State University, "Roughly
50 percent of the heat striking a turf area is eliminated by
transpiration. When the temperature of the sidewalk is 100 °F, the
temperature of the adjacent turf remains near 75 °F. This cooling may
last into the night, with studies showing a thirteen degree cooling
at 9 p.m."

  A special task force put together by the TPI in 2004 revealed that
pitch sanitation has to be done with antiseptic and chemical
cleaners. This raises many questions about how combinations of
chemicals will affect our children aged five through ten.

Artificial turf is less sustainable than natural grass. A group of
experts who have looked at problems with artificial football fields
in Germany –called Initiative WM-Rasen e.v.-Weissbuch – found that
renewal of an artificial football pitch produces 250 tons of waste.
This comprises 20 tons of Polyethylen fibres, Polypropylen, and latex
(Kautchuk/Butadienstyrol), plus 105 tons of rubber granulates and 127
tons of sand (with some rubber granulates). Manufacturers of
artificial turf state that it is designed to last for eight to ten
years. It then needs to be disposed of and a new field reinstalled.

We have done our own research and found that we can organically
fertilize the field at no added cost to the district and grass
clippings can be composted at no added cost. It would be possible to
use chemical-free pesticides and organic fertilizers on the lawns at
both Laurel and Encinal beginning in Fall 2007.

As we are sure you are now aware, Laurel's composting program has
received an honorary award from Sustainable San Mateo County for its
zero waste lunch and composting program. We're the first school in
the nation to offer such a program. The zero waste lunch program now
runs at Encinal very successfully. Other school districts have
approached us and are interested in doing the same thing. We have set
a great example for our kids and our community, as well as other
communities. We feel the addition of artificial turf would go against
all the positive changes we have made.

There are also many recent studies about the need for children to be
exposed to nature and its beneficial effect on childhood depression.
Activities in nature have been shown to lower the symptoms of
children who suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Numerous
studies demonstrate children's preference and need for the natural
environment. Some research on the impact of nature on children shows
that "5-year olds who have little opportunity for unsupervised play
outdoors in a natural setting have poorer social, behavior and motor
skills than children with easy access to natural environments."

Many children have expressed a desire to keep the lawn. Some of them
use it to build fairy houses during recess, others to cool off and
run around on and play sports on. Many are aware of global warming
and the need for trees and grass to reduce carbon dioxide emmissions.
Others know they will lose their Bluebird Field Study Program, which
was inherent in getting Encinal school its Distinguished School
Award. Since the field belongs to the students of Encinal, we think
their input is important. We obviously think it should not be
developed for a smaller group of soccer players within the community-
at-large, so they can have a longer playing season.

  We hope you consider other alternatives to removing one of the last
pieces of nature from Encinal School.

Sincerely,

  Emmanuelle Treil, Alice Valentine, Kimberly Wainscoat, & Anne Kolker

  Laurel & Encinal Environmental Chairs

Atherton, Ca

  
Received on Thu Mar 29 13:16:18 2007