I wasted more time than you know pursuing that city park proposal which was less a proposal and more a fait accompli. I had prepared a brief statement which I did not present and would have been inappropriate if I had — this city council meeting was more about where they should implement their expanded park proposal, not how. One of the things I wish the many, many people who spoke at that meeting had learned was to be brief and on point, and I wasn’t going to bring up an issue that was not under consideration.
I had my own petty concerns.
I’m going to speak for the bugs, as unpopular as they usually are.
If you get down on your hands and knees with a handlens in the park and look carefully in the grass, you’ll find a flourishing population of springtails and ants and isopods and beetles, all tending to the soil and bothering no humans at all. The soil is alive, and the biological elements are working to maintain it to our benefit — new grass is always pushing up and the detritovores are actively cleaning up any dead material. The natural surface is a familiar and safe substrate for children, too, with dirt and grass providing a comfortable cushion for play.
Landscape Structures Inc. intends to replace that living surface with dead asphalt and dead poured-in-place synthetic rubber sheets. I had to look up this stuff: it’s called EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer), made from processed recycled plastics and rubber. It’s mostly safe — you can read the material safety data sheet . There is a very small cancer hazard which can be regarded as negligible, since the polymer is so stable that the dangerous compounds are unlikely to be released. It is however toxic to aquatic organisms, since water runoff can carry the material into the groundwater. So maybe not as stable as we’d like to imagine?
I don’t think toxicity is a serious concern. I’m more concerned that we’d be replacing a living surface with dead , sterile plastic that will gradually decay, and need regular maintenance and eventual replacement. In the world we’d be making with this playground, falling leaves and twigs are a damaging contaminant rather than an aspect of a healthy environment.
Do we need to pave over more of the park? Don’t we have enough plastic in our environment?
As it turns out, that was all totally irrelevant anyway, since the city had already signed contracts with Landscape Structures, Inc.
The theme of this park is supposed to be a celebration of agriculture. Perhaps our farmers will start raising a rich crop of ethylene propylene diene monomer? It’s the future, you know.
I have one word for you …
The plastic can either be recycled and used as a playground surface or end up in a landfill. Take your pick.
No doubt the playground surface will also eventually end up in a landfill but that’s not important now.
I’m glad I’m down with EPMD instead. They’re “Strictly Business”.
:”They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” Joni Mitchell, 1970
“Le plus ca change, le plus c’est le meme chose” French proverb.
When we moved into our current home, part of the backyard was sodded…in other words, grass enmeshed in a plastic matrix so it could be easily rolled up and rolled out. It’s taken us a while but most of that is gone or buried. Lots of leaves and kitchen compost have gone into that area to transform it.
This is apropos of your meeting with your town council. I get emails from Marin county and this is the contents of one from the county’s Board of Supervisors: