The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a “green tip” to our readers in each newspaper. This edition’s tip was written by Lisa Kaas Boyle, an environmental attorney, co-founder of Plastic Pollution Coalition and member of the Resilient Palisades Zero Waste team, and Valeria Serna, a member of the Plant-Based Solutions, Zero Waste and Water Sages teams.
Artificial turf has been spreading like an invasive species, taking over yards, parks and sporting fields. This is surely one of those ideas that seemed good at the time—like paving the Los Angeles River—that turns out to have unintended consequences.
The idea has been floated to use plastic grass to cover baseball fields at Palisades Recreation Center and the proposed Pacific Palisades Dog Park on Temescal Canyon Road. Resilient Palisades urges natural ground cover for both of these projects and is providing our experts to comment at the public meetings.
At the public meeting on October 21 on the proposed dog park, Resilient Palisades member Lisa Boyle shared the health implications of exposure from plastic grass to PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” because they accumulate in the natural environment and living tissues.
While companies who make plastic grass rarely disclose the trade secret blend of chemicals used to make their plastic, independent testing has proven that plastic turf contains a variety of bisphenol and PFAS chemicals and even lead, that threaten human and animal health.
The Children’s Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai in New York has strongly discouraged artificial turf in playing fields because of risk of cancers to children. Additionally, these chemicals have been shown decrease fertility, lower birth weight, accelerate puberty, increase cholesterol levels and obesity, and reduce immune response.
A recent study of the turf at the Phillies baseball field found chemicals that may have led to six former players death from the same brain cancer. The Athletics will be playing on grass in Sacramento next season, as the MLB yields to players’ concerns.
A league spokesperson told the Associated Press as reported in the Los Angeles Times: “Our shared, primary concern is ensuring the best and safest playing surface for the A’s, River Cats and visiting players. In light of the player’s clear preference for natural grass, and after weighing … the potential risks and benefits of maintaining natural grass versus replacing the playing surface with synthetic turf, all the parties are aligned in moving forward with a natural grass field for Opening Day 2025.”
Resilient Palisades member Valeria Serna, a native plant expert, was on hand at the dog park meeting to share her wisdom on natural ground covers for highly trafficked areas like dog parks and playing fields. She suggested the following alternatives: Phyla nodiflora, Carex praegracilis, Festuca rubra, Agrostis pallens and Aristida purpurea. (We refer to recommended plants by their scientific names because the common names are often used for multiple species.)
CA Native plants can reduce water use and offer additional support for the environment/biodiversity. Native grasses are also replacements for traditional lawns and can be incorporated with hardscape, permeable rocks, decomposed granite or wood chips.
For more information on artificial turf, visit ncsa.la/artificial_turf. For more info on native grasses, see calscape.org.
(Editor’s note: There will be a follow-up meeting regarding the dog park in the future, which the Post will publish when confirmed, where community members will be able to express their preferences for the design.)
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