Students at Edison Intermediate School will lose the majority of their natural outdoor space and will be subjected to the increased risks, heat, and odor that comes from plastic grass.
Health experts have warned that children are uniquely vulnerable to toxic chemicals.
Dr. Sarah Evans (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) and Dr. Diana Zuckerman (National Center for Health Research) sent letters of concern to Mayor Brindle, the Westfield Town Council, Superintendent Gonzalez and the Westfield Board of Education. There has been no response.
Read the full letters below.
The Westfield School District is not aligned with the NJ Department of Education!
New Jersey became the first state in the nation to include climate change across content areas. The NJ Department of Education website states “The New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) are designed to prepare students to understand how and why climate change happens, the impact it has on our local and global communities and to act in informed and sustainable ways.”
Edison students will be taught to understand how and why climate change happens and how they can act in informed and sustainable ways. They will learn that plastics are petrochemical products that offgas invisible greenhouse gasses and contribute directly to climate change.
They will then watch as their district leaders replace a six acre carbon sink with a PFAS-laden plastic heat island next to their school knowing it will eventually be shipped off to a landfill – a cycle that will continue indefinitely.
Click here to read a letter from Dr. Royer on how synthetic turf is linked with climate change.