Does Your College Have Lead-Laden AstroTurf Fields?

Hundreds of colleges and universities across the country have chosen AstroTurf as a low-maintenance, supposedly eco-friendly alternative to live grass. Athletes roll around on it every day, and no doubt fumes and microscopic particles are kicked up into the air during games and practice. Recently, it’s been found that there are disturbing amounts of lead in this bright green synthetic turf.

From Plenty Magazine:

Four New Jersey artificial playing fields have registered high levels of lead, the neurotoxic heavy metal, and the U.S.Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating, according to the Washington Post . And not only that, but the recycled crumb rubber fill used as padding has been found to release toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC)s. These include styrene-butadiene, classified by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen, and whose inhalation can produce irritation of eyes, nose, throat and lungs. Another VOC in the fill, ethylene-propylene, is on EPA’s hazardous air pollutants list.

If your college has an AstroTurf field, it might be a good time to push for an alternative. Of course, you don’t want your school to tear up the fake stuff and replace it with grass they’re gonna pour pesticides and herbicides onto. Push for an organic lawn. If it can be done on golf courses, there’s no reason it can’t be done on your home team’s playing field. You can get more info at SafeLawns.org.

Link [Plenty Magazine] + [Safe Lawns]
Photo credit: Flickr user D. de la Peña

Leadville, Colorado Fears Billion Gallon Flood of Cancer and Pain

Leadville, Colorado is a scary place to live in these days. It’s a high altitude town- the highest incorporated in the U.S. at over 10,000 feet- contaminated by decades of mining the slopes above and around. It was at one time the largest silver mine in the world and over the decades has been host to soldiers from the nearby Army base, famous writers and celebrities, and even gunslinger Doc Holiday.

Today it’s filled with a people fearful of the billion gallons of polluted water plugged up in a tunnel overlooking town that’s threatening to pop. If it blows the entire town will be awash in a watery stew of deadly chemicals, lead, mercury, and other heavy metals. Leadville’s 2,700 residents could find themselves knee deep in cancer and death.

Groovy Green says not to worry though, officials are all over this one:

Peter Soeth, a spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation, which acquired the drainage tunnel in 1959, said there was no immediate threat to Leadville’s 2,700 residents.

Officials point out that a speaker system to broadcast evacuation notices has already been installed near a mobile home park that has 300 residents near the tunnel’s portal.

I’d feel so safe if I knew that and lived in Leadville. A speaker system. They have a speaker system. Great F.S.M.

Link [MSNBC] via Groovy Green