Turf Wars; Green Grass VS. Artificial Turf

http://www.njea.org/pdfs/HS_GrassTurf_May08.pdf  Currently, the Webster School District, like many schools across America, are encouraging citizens to consider picking up the cost of artificial turf. The hippy chick in me, which was recently reawakened, largely due to reacquainting myself with the "green movement" (which first arose back in the seventies) is shouting loudly..."Heck NO! We' d rather mow!"
  Artificial turf does not "sanitize" itself like natural grass. The process to clean artificial turf is high maintenance. At best, artificial turf lasts ten years. While turf salesmen and saleswomen state that the materials used in artificial turf can be recycled (speculation- based on the belief that someone might find a use for the spent material) the cost to remove this artificial playing surface, once spent, is expensive. Costs to remove such waste will only continue to rise as landfills around the Nation continue to fill up to capacity with our garbage. No one welcomes a garbage dump with open arms. The message from citizens is always the same, "Not in my backyard!"  Seems to me that most urban and suburban dwellers don't mind dumps located in far away communities-often very rural, as long as they don't have to see or smell it...and be sure the waste- our waste- does not leach into our water supplies. Out of sight....are we out of our minds?
Please follow the link to njea (artificial turf) and post your comment.
http://www.njea.org/pdfs/HS_GrassTurf_May08.pdfppwPpppww.njea.org/pdfs/HS_GrassTuorf_May08.pdf