To the editor: As this article states, there’s thousands and thousands of acres of artificial turf that are being installed in California public parks, schools and universities, creating health and environmental issues due to the use of petroleum products in their manufacture (“As California installs more artificial turf, health and environmental concerns multiply,” Sept. 17). For many years, artificial turf has been the burial ground for old tires, offloading that problem from the tire recycling issues.
Let’s replace grass with grass. Bamboo is now a sustainable source in building products like flooring and furniture as well as fabrics and shutters. The plant grows like crazy and is not complicated to harvest and process. Production has to be managed so that it doesn’t strip the soil of nutrients over time, like many crops. But it would likely be far less expensive to harvest and manufacture as “artificial” turf than nylon and plastic sourced from fossil fuel drilling, and isn’t full of chemicals and other poisons. We need to prevent toxic chemicals from getting into our soil and watersheds and provide a cool and permeable playing surface.
I’m sure I’m not the first person to consider this idea for development; I’d even bet there’s been some exploration of the mechanics of growing and processing a natural fiber for use as an artificial turf. Who knows how many development efforts have been sidelined by fossil fuel interests?
Laurie Barlow, San Marino