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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers.)
By Renée Scott
Our region will feel many impacts from climate change in the coming years but the one we will all face, no matter how close we live to a flood zone, how much money we make, our access to health care, or our proximity to a highway, is heat. Since the 1980s, each successive decade has been warmer than any preceding decade since the 1850s. Worldwide (and in our region), July 2019 was the hottest month in recorded history.
The trend is not our friend on this statistic. Somerville’s Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment says that in ten short years we will have 40 days each year over 90 degrees. Remember how hot it was in Somerville last summer? We had only ten days of 90 degrees or more. This will be an extraordinary increase in a very short time. The Urban Land Institute just released a report on living with heat in which they look at four communities, including Somerville, and how they can best prepare and live with the extreme heat we will all feel. They quote the Union Of Concerned Scientists speaking about the urban implications of this increased heat, who say that “extreme heat is poised to rise steeply in frequency and severity over the coming decades, bringing unprecedented health risks for people and communities across the country.” They explain that urban heat islands increase the heat because “on hot days, roof and pavement surface temperatures in metropolitan areas can be 50–90°F (27–50°C) hotter than the air, while those of nearby shaded or moist surfaces remain close to air temperatures.”
This extreme heat, without relief, reduces the human body’s ability to cool itself and can lead to heat exhaustion, confusion, heat stroke, and even death. Those most vulnerable to heat-related illness are children, the elderly, people who work outdoors, athletes, and those with lower income who may not have access to air conditioning or other ways to stay cool. Unfortunately, the Living with Heat report explains that Somerville is especially vulnerable to urban heat island impacts because of our excessive pavement and lack of tree canopy and open spaces.
Despite these undisputed facts, our city continues to push to install artificial turf, replacing our grass fields. Artificial turf is frequently 40 to 70 degrees hotter than grass, which rarely gets over 100 degrees. The National Recreation and Park Association recommends that caution be taken with air temps over 80 degrees when playing on artificial turf – and when 90 or higher, to avoid use between noon and 5pm. They also recommend signage, cautioning users to the potential for extreme heat on these surfaces.
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has guidelines on avoiding heat-related illness in our young athletes. Their chart shows that at a humidity level of 65% or more, which is normal for our area in the summer months, air temps in the low to mid-80s create conditions where only fit and heat-acclimatized athletes should participate. But what happens when you consider the additional 40 to 70 degrees of heat from an artificial turf field? At 100 degrees there is no level of humidity where non-heat-acclimatized athletes should play.
Our children are already being impacted by heat on artificial turf here in Somerville. Youth athletes have already suffered heat stroke playing on the artificial turf surface at the Capuano School. Is your child’s coach paying attention? Are they trained in monitoring the conditions as well as what to do if any of the kids in their charge show signs of heat-related illness? What if your kids have gone off on their own to play with friends, not monitored by a trained adult?
Now, if you don’t have kids who play on these fields, you’re probably wondering why you’ve
read this far. Unfortunately, the decision to install artificial turf does not just affect those who use the fields. Adding insult to injury, when we cover a grass field with artificial turf, we not only add a very hot surface, we also take away a cool one. It’s a double whammy.
So why are we still considering artificial turf fields? We are told that our grass fields can’t take the use demanded of them and stay in good shape. We are told that our children deserve the best. But is scaldingly hot artificial turf really the best? Is the danger of heat stroke and hotter neighborhoods really worth the risk just so we don’t have rainouts? Do we really understand the seriousness of the heat we will continue to experience with more and more frequency?
The fact that the city wants artificial turf on Conway says that we really do not get it. Our mayor says that climate change is the greatest existential threat we face, yet continues to plan for our cool grass fields to be covered in a plastic surface that can easily get to 150 degrees on a normal warm, sunny day. There is a role for artificial turf – it’s a great surface for indoor, climate controlled, year-round athletic facilities. If we care about children’s athletic opportunity and their safety, let’s invest in creating that kind of facility. But we cannot replace our few remaining grass surfaces with artificial turf without making our heat issues worse and endangering our children.
We have to face reality. Our planet is heating up at historic rates. Our region is seeing increasingly hotter temperatures every year. Our city is one of the very hottest in the Greater Boston area. This is the reality. We do not have the luxury to delay. We do not have the luxury to choose the optimal surface for a particular sport given a particular weather condition. We do not have the luxury to do anything other than make our town as cool as possible to give our residents a fighting chance to be healthy and comfortable. It’s no longer a discussion of which surface holds up best under extreme demand. The discussion needs to be which surface holds up under extreme heat. That surface is not artificial turf.
Renée Scott is a Somerville resident, mother, and co-founder of Green & Open Somerville.
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110% Renee! This letter will be referred to years from now as a clarion call and we will regret it if it is not heeded.
Thank you for your courage and voice.
Well said . Heat and flooding are issue we need to deal with proactively!
Anyone who’s raised kids in this city knows we are drastically short of playing fields. Adults (like me) use them too. We simply don’t have enough field space to make them grass like we were some sprawling suburb. They’ll turn into mud pits. Conway has to have turf fields or it won’t have usable fields. There is no serious argument to the contrary.
I’ve got a deal for you Renee, go play a sport on the hardpack of Foss Park and tell me thats better than Turf.
The reality of our field situation is that our fields are so overused that grass turns to a muddy hardpack mess very quickly. The field at Argenziano is already going to hell b/c its used so much. Turf fields mean we can play after a rainstorm. I’ve never had a kid get injured on turf, but have had twisted ankles and worse at the Nunziato field. Our kids deserve the opportunity to play sports and turf is the best way to maximize access to playing fields.
In addition to the kids, there are adult leagues and informal pick up games happening on our fields. They are always in use.
We’ve played on the turf on 90 degree days and its fine. Its not like 80s turf that radiates heat. Modern turf, is much, much better.
If you are worried about heat, advocate for green roofs
Just to add to what Jim’s saying, local fields get heavy usage by lower income and immigrant residents. That’s where our rec leagues and pickup games happen. The Argenziano field is taking a beating largely because we don’t have fields available over at Conway.
And to bolster his safety point, you can get shredded if you go down on a field where the grass cover has been run off of it.
When I hear these arguments about how we should just make grass playing fields, it reeks of privilege. I don’t think the people arguing that have any idea of who’s using those fields or how much use they get. You’re basically looking to take away one of the main recreation options for kids who don’t have a lot of recreation options.
Let me leave out the pollution issues, the toxicity of the lifecycle costs, and the multitude of other issues that come with perpetuating the petrochemical production of such products out of this….
Just want to make sure I am reading these comments correctly, we should ignore the health and safety of children (and adults) that participate (or not) in sports on these fields because we cannot simply wait for fields to rest or maintain a legitimate schedule for rotation around natural turf fields?
It begs the question about societal priorities here. Are we out for the children to have recreational and (to whatever degree) structured fun (team sports) for the purposes of better future adults or is this about the unhealthy trend of infusing hyper-competitive structures into the lives of children?
There are certainly better design methods for natural turf fields that narrow the rest periods for them as well as means to create multi-purpose infrastructural planning that captures stormwater in systems (natural and artificial) that keep them from becoming waterlogged (and those systems will be more vital moving forward with increased climate-related storm events.
Added to that is ambient temperature increases for surrounding communities that may or may not participate in the sports (the collateral damage) that increase health risks to elderly and chronic illness sufferers that must find means to offset the increased temperatures near their homes (these are urban fields by the way). Who offsets their increased risks and cooling expenses?
I guess I am fuzzy on why proven adverse health ramifications of these fields is ignored for what resultant purpose…
Better youth athletes? (and why does that matter) I have certainly seen nations without such privileged (Brazil, countess African nations) of perfectly manicured and/or artificial fields being kept from enjoying their youth sports. While we can certainly offer better conditions, it seems to me a mistake to take a position that such access should come with all the baggage.
Somerville youth sports organizations and high school teams are in desperate need of a sports complex similar to what neighboring towns provide for their communities. The health impact of modern turf fields dramatically exaggerated here. Let’s focus on solar panels, green roofs, planting trees and improving public transportation and let the kids play!
I’d gladly expose my kids to whatever potential chemicals are in turf than have them sit all day and play video games. The benefit of exercise and team sports vastly outweighs any perceived potential for chemical exposure from turf (btw its negligible). If you don’t play on these fields, you really don’t know what you’re talking about
Great work, Renee, couldn’t agree more. A few additional thoughts:
Whether grass or turf, these fields will mostly not be available for informal use. They’re fenced, locked, and available only for paid/subscription use.
Whether grass or turf, the fields will still be unusable when it’s raining, snowing, or when temperatures are extreme. Covered, climate controlled facilities are the sensible way to make efficient use of our limited real estate.
Whether grass or turf, we will still need to pay maintenance costs. It’s pretty well documented (https://www.fieldfundinc.org/annual-costs) that the total cost of ownership for a turf field is higher than that for a well maintained, high durability grass field.
Whether grass or turf, we should check the numbers on playable hours. The city’s presentation about Conway park included some numbers that, at a glance, are questionable at best.
At the very least, we should all agree that replacing a publicly accessible grass space with a fenced and locked plastic / rubber one amounts to -removing- green space from the city. Given our challenges making progress on the green and open space goals, this seems questionable at best.
As a member of Somerville youth soccer league in both a Coach role as well as a member of the board I will say safety is always utmost in our minds.
All our coaches take twice-a-year training in online safety – the training covers excess heat, excess cold as well as injuries and concussions. Our referees are well trained there also and I’ve coached in several games where one or both teams requested water breaks and received them without question.
Whilst yes turf can feel hotter than grass for sure, we as coaches, our town and our league abide by US Soccer heat rules which factor in not just air temperature but humidity. See https://www.mayouthsoccer.org/about/weather-policy/
Naturally the best arbiter of the players health is the player themselves and we encourage them to find and know their level.
Personally I would love our teams to only play on grass but with the ongoing drainage problems (Argenziano/Lincoln, VNA at Mystic Valley etc.) turf seems to be the only viable option unless we’re after green spaces our kids cannot use.
I do want to recognize and congratulate our Rec department, DPW and City Councillors and executive branch for their recent re-turfing of Capuano and ESCS. In doing so they engaged the community and chose a more environmentally friendly turf that also radiates much less heat and is much more pressure absorbant to reduce injuries.
I think there are ways we can have our cake and eat it to – we can have playable grounds that are environmentally friendly and that can be played without undue impact on the players or the environs.
“Turf seems to be the only viable option unless we’re after green spaces our kids cannot use”
Sadly, that’s exactly what they’re after.
Please see how Burlington has adopted more stringent standards for protecting players on artificial during high heat and humidity. So clearly concern for heat stroke is an issue, especially with ambient temperatures going up over time:
https://www.burlingtonpublicschools.org/district/district-policies/utilizing-artificial-turf
I’m concerned about my kids playing on hot turf. Even more concerned about climate change and replacing relatively cool, living grass (with a whole ecosystem beneath it) for hot plastic with all kinds of chemicals in it (and turf kills the entire ecosystem beneath it, takes years to renew).
And then in a few years that giant swath of plastic needs costly disposal – into our filling landfills – and then replacement with another one!
I’d rather see the CIty upkeep their grass.
There is no “upkeep” for grass fields that get constant use. They get mutilated. We’re not a low population suburb with ample field space. We’re a densely populated city with limited field space and a huge demand for it. I would love grass fields. I love playing on lush grass fields. Yet it’s pretty obvious why that’s a pipe dream in Somerville.
Unfortunately we’ve got people who are either oblivious to the recreational demand in our city or who just don’t care. I’m trying to think of something more disingenuous than suggesting turf should only be used in indoor facilities and then complaining about upkeep costs, and I’m drawing a blank. Constructing unnecessary buildings around turf fields would be the height of wasteful spending.