I find this fascinating. I replaced my backyard with high quality turf. It looks better, holds up better, is easier to maintain and I enjoy walking on it in my bare feet more than normal grass. It...
I find this fascinating. I replaced my backyard with high quality turf. It looks better, holds up better, is easier to maintain and I enjoy walking on it in my bare feet more than normal grass. It absolutely should be the standard for any sports played on a field.
I remember seeing the Arizona stadium mentioned in the article with their grass field slid out to the side of the build to help it be maintained. They go to insane lengths to make grass work with limited proof that it causes less injuries.
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/new-studies-show-pfas-artificial-grass-blades-and-backing Terrifying to think of what this does downhill in terms of the water table and on a large scale...
Terrifying to think of what this does downhill in terms of the water table and on a large scale compared to, ya know, plants.
There are between 12,000 and 13,000 artificial fields in use in the U.S. The turf and infill of a single deconstructed field weighs about 44,000 pounds. There are also many fields no longer in active use. Fields need to be replaced every eight to 10 years, according to the Synthetic Turf Council, with between 1,200 and 1,500 fields being replaced at any given time.
It’s difficult to dispose of discarded turf. A thousand deconstructed fields amount to about 80 milion square feet of turf and infill, together weighing about 440 million pounds.
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Now lab tests by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, and the Ecology Center show that both the grass-like blades and the backing of artificial turf contain the highly toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS.
Children may be exposed to chemicals in turf either from touching or swallowing the crumbled rubber pellets that make up the backing, or possibly from breathing chemicals that off-gas into the air, according to the Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Okay, I get it. You can always find the bad parts of things. My qualifiers would be professional sports leagues should probably use artificial turf that does not contain PFAS as in strictly my...
Okay, I get it. You can always find the bad parts of things.
My qualifiers would be professional sports leagues should probably use artificial turf that does not contain PFAS as in strictly my opinion the benefits outweigh the negatives of trying to keep grass, especially if the main objection is injuries.
I strongly associate the word "turf" (without any other qualifiers, such as "artificial" or "synthetic") with living grass harvested and sold in this form. Or even just used to refer to a highly...
I strongly associate the word "turf" (without any other qualifiers, such as "artificial" or "synthetic") with living grass harvested and sold in this form. Or even just used to refer to a highly manicured lawn in general, as in the term turf management, even if the lawn was originally seed sown.
Is it common now to use "turf" without qualifiers to refer to fake grass?
I find this fascinating. I replaced my backyard with high quality turf. It looks better, holds up better, is easier to maintain and I enjoy walking on it in my bare feet more than normal grass. It absolutely should be the standard for any sports played on a field.
I remember seeing the Arizona stadium mentioned in the article with their grass field slid out to the side of the build to help it be maintained. They go to insane lengths to make grass work with limited proof that it causes less injuries.
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/new-studies-show-pfas-artificial-grass-blades-and-backing
Terrifying to think of what this does downhill in terms of the water table and on a large scale compared to, ya know, plants.
...
Okay, I get it. You can always find the bad parts of things.
My qualifiers would be professional sports leagues should probably use artificial turf that does not contain PFAS as in strictly my opinion the benefits outweigh the negatives of trying to keep grass, especially if the main objection is injuries.
I strongly associate the word "turf" (without any other qualifiers, such as "artificial" or "synthetic") with living grass harvested and sold in this form. Or even just used to refer to a highly manicured lawn in general, as in the term turf management, even if the lawn was originally seed sown.
Is it common now to use "turf" without qualifiers to refer to fake grass?
Probably not? I'm no expert, I don't know. So to clarify, I have artificial turf in my backyard.
Back in marching band, I hated turf. Grass gave better grip to marching shoes.