Contributing to Global Warming
Why would we contribute to global warming by removing life that removes carbon dioxide from our atmosphere?
According the non-profit group Athena Institute, the replacement of one grass field would require the planting of 1,861 trees, and allowing them to grow for 10 years, to offset the amount of “carbon dioxide sequestration” lost with the grass fields.
David Brown, a public health toxicologist, wrote a column for the Sunday New York Times explaining some of the dangers of creating playing fields out of petroleum products.
He said each square foot of synthetic surface has 10 or so pounds of tire crumbs, which results in about 225 tons of ground-up tires for a field 300 feet long by 150 feet wide. Silver Terrace is at least twice that size.
“(Studies) found that dust from the rubber crumbs contained carcinogens that could be inhaled into the deepest portions of the lung,” Brown wrote.
As well, the water that drains off the synthetic fields is channeled into the city’s sewer system, which means it is treated and discharged into the Pacific Ocean. It does not go back into the underground aquifer. (Wasn’t that the problem with Lake Merced?)
Our sewer system can’t handle all of the water during a heavy rain and sometimes untreated effluent is dumped directly into the ocean. This will make that problem worse.
The SF Board of Supervisors passed legislation in 2002 to ban the paving over of small green spaces in the front of people’s homes in an effort to keep water flowing into the underground aquifers and out of the city’s storm drainage system. Recently, it passed legislation calling for fines of up to $500 for violators.
But the City is the biggest violator of its own policy. Surprise.
