Sunday’s Boston Globe commemorated the 150th anniversary of Frederick Law Olmsted’s plans for Yosemite Valley. Olmsted, who designed Central Park and Boston's Emerald Necklace, advocated for accessibility and stewardship of nature for the benefit of all.

From Courtney Humphries' article:

Today we think of parks largely as recreational spaces and nature preserves, but in the 19th century they had a social and political mission. Government’s duty, Olmsted wrote, was to protect individual citizens’ “pursuit of happiness.” Olmsted had a longstanding belief that nature had a profound effect on people’s psychology — that it gave people pleasure and increased their capacity for happiness. But access to nature and recreation is “a monopoly, in a very peculiar manner, of a very few very rich people,” he wrote. “The great mass of society, including those to whom it would be of the greatest benefit, is excluded from it.”

This thinking led to putting Blue Hills, Middlesex Fells, and Revere Beach under state protection for public use.

Olmstead’s ideas are still valid. His “perceptions about the role of nature in well-being are still alive in a growing body of public health research," and

the Olmstedian notion of accessibility is finding a new life in people like Rebecca Stanfield McCown, acting director of the NPS Stewardship Institute in Vermont. She’s helping lead an initiative called the Urban Agenda, which aims to make better use of the National Park Service’s significant network of urban parks as a gateway into the entire system.

“If we’re not making those connections with people at home, then we’re going to be losing out on a generation of supporters and advocates for wilderness preservation,” Stanfield says. “We need to be relevant to their daily lives and not just their vacations.”

Thanks to Ms. Humphries for reminding us of the intrinsic value of green space.

Petition to Preserve the Green Space at Lincoln Park

Somerville residents are gathering signatures on a petition to prevent artificial turf from being installed on Lincoln Park. The text is below. To sign the petition, or learn more, please contact: 

Lumina Gershfield Cordova

(617) 388-4992

Luminainfinite@gmail.com

A Petition to Preserve the Green Space at Lincoln Park - August 2015

The undersigned, as neighbors of Lincoln Park, parents of youth athletes, parents of Argenziano students, and residents of Somerville, are writing to oppose the installation of a synthetic turf athletic field in Lincoln Park, and instead request that the fields remain as grass turf. We believe that synthetic turf fields will change the character of the park and neighborhood in undesirable ways. We believe that the large number of permitted events at Lincoln Park, in the absence of a comprehensive City-wide strategy to meet current and future demand for field space, creates the appearance of a need for a synthetic turf field at Lincoln Park that has not been justified.

In particular, we believe that if a synthetic turf field is installed, the following will occur:

1. It will dramatically change the Park’s character - Lincoln Park will lose the balance of uses that
Somerville residents have enjoyed for the park’s 120-year history. Many different people – young
athletes, picnickers, toddlers, teen and adult basketball players, dog walkers, and many others – can use the park together. With the installation of a synthetic turf field, the park will become a defacto athletic facility and programming at the field will increase further, crowding out the school and community uses that give this park a unique and vibrant character.

2. There will be negative impacts on the neighborhood - Dawn to dusk athletic events will change the
surrounding neighborhood, turning one of the most densely packed and functional neighborhoods into a parking lot for an athletic facility. We feel there are an inequitable number of uses at Lincoln Park and the City has not adequately explored alternatives to the proposed artificial turf field, including reallocating uses to the other parks in the City.

3. There will be possible health risks – Regular and extended play by school children, young athletes, and residents on synthetic turf may expose them to potential health risks. While the verdict is out on the chronic health risks associated with the infill materials that are typically used on synthetic turf fields, we do not want Somerville’s children to become unwitting participants in an epidemiological study. With regard to acute health concerns, the higher temperatures on synthetic turf compared to natural grass are well documented. Installing synthetic turf poses a greater risk of heat stress to the athletes and school children that play on it during the hotter times of the day. Synthetic turf fields also contributes to the “heat island” effect in a highly urbanized area, thus contributing to global warming. There are also valid arguments to be made that synthetic turf will result in increased incidence of skin cuts and abrasions and other impact injuries. The environmental fate and potential ecological risks associated with the use of infill materials also warrant additional consideration.

4. There will be an irretrievable loss of open space and natural park land - If we lose the grass, we will lose one of the City’s largest remaining green open spaces. While there is always a temptation to fill up spaces like this one with buildings or facilities, this is not a decision that a City as densely developed as Somerville should be making lightly, especially in light of future development and growth in Union Square. Furthermore, synthetic turf fields are not consistent with the Community Preservation Act, which specifically precludes use of CPA funds to acquire artificial turf for athletic fields.

Please preserve this amazing neighborhood and city asset for Somerville’s current and future residents.

Artificial Turf is Wrong for Somerville

Somerville plans to install artificial turf on our few grass fields. Plastic fields are the wrong choice for Somerville. Bad for the environment. Bad for our health. Bad for our wallets.

Can Somerville become carbon neutral by 2050 with artificial turf? To offset the carbon from an average artificial turf field we would need to plant over 1,800 10-year-old trees. See www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/ for Somerville’s carbon neutral plan.

What happens when it rains? Artificial turf stormwater runoff contains the algaecides, sanitizers, pesticides, antistatic agents, and chemical solvents used to care for the field. Modern conventional grass care has significantly reduced the amount of pesticides and fertilizers used. Organic grass care uses no synthetic chemicals.

What does it cost? A 2-acre artificial turf installation can cost up to $1,000,000 and will last an average of 8-10 years. Replacement costs for an artificial turf field average $500,000 and involves disposing of several tons of plastic. A high-quality grass field costs up to $350,000. How does the city plan to pay for the carpet replacement and old carpet disposal in 8-10 years? After installation, many communities discover they must restrict public access to an artificial turf field in order to protect their million dollar investment. Fencing, increased police patrols, night illumination, and security cameras create additional costs.

What’s in these fields? Crumb rubber infill in artificial turf fields gets into eyes and mouths. That means people can ingest the cancer-causing chemicals including arsenic, benzene, cadmium, and nickel that have been found in crumb rubber. The EPA found 30 chemicals in artificial turf and advises further study. Is this an experiment we want to run on our children and residents?

Is it hot? Artificial turf can be 37℉ hotter than asphalt and 86℉ hotter than grass. The maximum observed surface temperature on artificial turf was 200℉. At a temp of 122℉ it takes less than 10 minutes to cause injury to skin. NASA satellite maps of New York City showed that some of the hottest surfaces were artificial turf fields.

Why do professional athletes prefer grass? This year, Abby Wambach led 40 top female soccer players in filing a lawsuit against FIFA for using artificial turf, calling it "dangerous". 89% of NFL players surveyed felt that playing on artificial turf shortens their playing careers and 82% said it increases injury.

Grass is a living ecosystem. It provides stormwater retention, erosion control, pollutant removal, microbial activity, carbon sequestration, heat island mitigation, air and water filtration, wildlife habitat, noise reduction, psychological benefits, and oxygen generation.

Educate yourself and join Green and Open Somerville here:

web http://greenopensomerville.blogspot.com/   email greenopensomerville@gmail.com

facebook www.facebook.com/greenandopensomerville           twitter @greensomerville

Artificial turf is too risky for our kids and our finances

http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/59844#comments

Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center

http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150709/srep11610/full/srep11610.html

Concord's June 2015 forum on artificial turf

Our facebook page has a long but very educational video of Concord, MA's recent forum on artificial turf. It is well worth the time to watch and learn. Here is a link to our page: https://www.facebook.com/greenandopensomerville

Synthetic turf fires

Unfortunately, when artificial turf burns, the result is a toxic brew of chemicals released into the air. The fires mentioned in the following news stories were arson, which then brings up the obvious: in order to prevent these acrid, nasty fires, which, in addition to the air pollution they cause, also cost many thousands of dollars to repair, these fields will probably be fenced and locked to prevent unauthorized access.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEFKHuWLgx4&feature=relmfu