As the world heats up, so does the debate around artificial turf

By Carmela Guaglianone

Artificial turf carpets athletic fields, playgrounds, and residential lawns across the US, offering a low-maintenance alternative to natural grass that always looks lush and doesn’t require heavy watering. But while this popular synthetic material is marketed as eco-friendly, it has also long attracted controversy – for decades, environmental and health advocates have expressed concern about the chemical byproducts of the turf’s plastic fibers.

Now, as climate change drives global temperatures to searing new records and cities scramble for ways to cool down, the old debate around artificial turf has taken on a new intensity. Along with concerns about toxic chemicals, some have begun to sound the alarm that artificial turf simply gets too hot in a world of ever-harsher heatwaves, exacerbating the health risks of the climate crisis. 

Medical experts, like those at the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center, have begun to recommend against artificial turf  installations, often citing several health concerns — including  “a very real risk of burns, dehydration, heat stress, or heat stroke.” 

And the safety risks of hot turf go beyond the immediate, said Genoa Warner, an environmental toxicologist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who has researched artificial turf and other plastics. 

“You might have heard like not to microwave your plastics, not to leave your plastic water bottle in the car to heat up and be exposed to the sun because it’s more likely to leach chemicals into it,” she said. “It’s basically the same principle as applying with artificial turf.”

In part due to concerns that artificial turf is only adding to Los Angeles’ heat struggles, city councilmembers this spring proposed that the city begin to transition away from artificial installations, joining a growing list of cities around the country that have taken steps to ban the material.

In late June, the council’s Energy and Environment Committee approved the motion, which seeks to gather information on the impacts of turf and could ultimately lead to a ban.