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Health & Fitness

Rabbi Mark's Blog: Save Reynolds Field (I)

Good people can disagree, and that’s what’s happening in Hastings. But it’s not a real disagreement, because Geo-Turf has not been straight with us. A lot of information we would need in order to make an informed decision has been skewed, misrepresented, and/or withheld. If the information had been presented fully and accurately by the company I don’t think we’d be having any disagreement at all. I really don’t.

There’s a way forward for all of us. The vote needn’t split us in two. But I do believe that we have to begin by acknowledging that the issue of Reynolds Field is not just a “team” issue, or a “school” issue, or even a “village” issue. What's playing out is here locally is a global issue, and the stakes could not be higher.   

“We can either make the solution to the climate crisis the central organizing principle of global civilization or the hostile conditions we are creating will destroy us.” - Al Gore

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“There is a strong community sentiment and political will in Hastings to be more sustainable and to reduce the Village's carbon footprint. A major publicly announced goal of Board of Trustees for 2009-2010 is to be a model sustainable community… The village government, as the representative of the entire community, has a responsibility to fulfill the goals of sustainability, not only for ourselves, but also for those elsewhere whose well-being our practices affect, and for our children and those who will reside in this place after us…” - Hastings-on-Hudson Sustainability Action Plan

ISSUE NUMBER ONE: OIL

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Geo-Turf is one acre and 25 tons of plastic – made from oil – and blanketing Reynolds Field in a carpet of Geo-Turf would add to the village’s carbon footprint.

Geo-Turf’s homepage is replete with words like "organic," "safe," "lead-free" and "eco-friendly." You'd have to go to the ninth item on the third bar of the second drop down box of their website to learn that their turf materials are made from “polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyurethane” – and even there they insist on throwing in the word “organic.”

Friends, this field is made from plastic. Eco-friendly plastic? Welcome to the Orwellian world of corporate eco-speak.

Don't agree with me on climate change (though I suspect you do)? There are still plenty of other reasons to oppose Geo-Turf. For instance, pictured above is an artificial turf field in Pennsylvania wrecked by two inches of rainfall. As someone over in Nyack recently wrote “When all is said and done, a grass field wouldn’t be harmed by rains, even torrential rains. And, there is not an artificial turf warranty out there that covers ‘acts of God.’” (Check out “An Inconvenient Turf”)

According to the New York Times voter sentiment is turning away from artificial turf. Irvington voted against it. How will they write the story of Hastings?

VOTE NO on October 22, and then let’s all regroup as quickly as possible after that to plan a rehabilitated Reynolds Field that works for all of us, a field in line with the values articulated in our Sustainability Action Plan, and of which we can all be proud.

Read all posts in this series on Reynolds Field here.

Please use the link on this page to e-mail this to your friends and neighbors. The views expressed are mine alone. But for more information I encourage you to go to SaveReynoldsField.org to learn more.

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