According to New York City officials and some elected representatives, we need artificial turf fields more than we need to protect the climate of NYC and the earth.
NO. We need more real grass playing fields and other open, natural spaces for the health and joy of more New Yorkers and for the future of the planet.
Today city officials celebrated the opening of the first finished section of East River Park atop a giant levee. It was a hot expanse of artificial turf (100° on a 70° morning). The Department of Design and Construction (DDC) and some elected officials are ignoring the ways we can make our climate better as we strive to protect our Lower East Side neighborhood from the storm surges and sea level rise that come with climate change.
The East Side Coastal Resiliency project is a good example of how not to do it. The plans can be changed.
DDC and elected officials: Stop installing expensive hot unhealthy artificial turf. Hurry up and plant trees and other natural areas so we can begin to see and feel the benefits of their cooling and cleansing the air. Rethink the plan for the Northern end of the park that hasn’t yet been destroyed. Educate yourselves about how your projects hasten the warming destruction of our city and the planet.
Some of the officials in the photo: Trever Holland, CB3 Parks Committee chair, Meera Joshi, NYC Deputy Mayor for Operations, Sue Donoghue, Parks Commissioner, Tom Foley, Department of Design and Construction, Eric Ilejevich, also DDC, Harvey Epstein, Assembly member AD74, Katie Loeb, CM Carlina Rivera’s Chief of Staff, John Blasco, Dan Goodman’s NYC Chief of Staff, Fannie Ip, Community Liaison for Assemblymember Grace Lee AD65.
Artificial turf kills every living thing beneath it, makes the soil sterile and deviod of nutrients, AND raises the temperature of the air above it, by many degrees. It sheds microplastics into our environment, which kill insects and animals, pollutes our water and is carcinogenic. It wears out. Real Grass is much better. The 2/3rds already done destruction of the East River Park is a crime against nature and humanity, especially for the residents of the Lower East Side and the East Village. DeBlasio and Rivera, et al, are guilty for allowing this travesty to occur.