Madison 2020 Looks Ahead

(April 3, 2011) We all know that Madison is a great town to live in today. That will continue to be true, if we live in a way that doesn't take resources away from the future. Madison 2020 is Madison's sustainability program, overseen by the Madison Environmental Commission (MEC) and accomplished with the support of many volunteers and Borough employees. Sustainability has three elements, the three P's: Prosperity, Planet and People. A strong local economy, environmentally-responsible actions and conservation, and social equity and fairness are its inter-related parts. So Madison 2020 looks forward and seeks "a clear vision for a sustainable future."

This blog will explore the highs and lows of sustainability in Madison. I'll look at current issues through the lens of sustainability and let you know about Madison's accomplishments and challenges. I'll include links to local activities that relate to sustainability. This is a blog that will include my opinions and not the formal statements of either the MEC or Madison 2020. For the formal statements, please join the Madison 2020 distribution list (found on the Environmental Commission page on www.rosenet.org) and attend the public MEC meetings, usually 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of the month in the in the Hartley-Dodge Committee Room. But I'll identify MEC positions when available.

Caption: The Sustainable Jersey bronze-level award was given to Madison at the NJ League of Municipalities Conference last year.

If you recognize the name Madison 2020, you may know the energized group of Madison 2020 volunteers who spearheaded the drive to get the initial bronze-level Sustainable Jersey certification in November 2010. The program credits a community for concrete actions across a wide variety of areas, from recycling to sustainable land use to green fairs and local business programs. Only 74 of the 512 eligible communities in New Jersey have achieved it. (See http://www.sustainablejersey.com/ for information on the statewide program and Madison's entry.)

We were delighted to get the necessary 150 points for our sustainable actions, plus an additional 80 points more than we needed! Madison 2020 is still developing programs to work toward the next level, silver certification. In later entries, I'll look at these program areas more closely.

A low in Madison sustainability is happening now (and being covered in the reporting and editorial sides of The Madison Eagle): artificial turf field development in the 49 acres, where Madison's water is refreshed with aquifer recharge. I'm supportive of artificial turf fields. I'm not supportive of the selection of crumb rubber turf infill fields without seriously considering the alternatives of TPE or even natural turf. The MEC has requested that the Council solicit bids for alternative field materials in the bid package. Previously the MEC has asked the Council not to specify crumb rubber as the turf infill in the bid package.

To evaluate the sustainability of crumb rubber, there are many competing research studies on the heat effects of the crumb rubber fields. Whether the crumb rubber fields are more than 60 degrees hotter than grass fields on a hot summer day or somewhat hotter, anyone who's been around them would agree that they are hotter than grass, as all the research shows. Children are most vulnerable to heat effects but wetlands are vulnerable too. It's also indisputable that zinc and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, known carcinogens) come off the crumb rubber into the stormwater runoff. The fields are over a Madison Tier 2 wellhead protection area (so water reaches the wellhead in five years) and bordered by wetlands. Ingesting the little rubber crumbs also seems to introduce toxins into the body, not surprisingly. By 2020 (the end of a field's eight- to ten-year warranty period), the 20,000 crumbled tires per field mixed with sand will have become waste, tons of it, and another 20,000-tires-worth will be needed to replace it.

Other local communities, like our neighbors the Chathams, have looked at TPE (thermoplastic elastomer), which is fully recyclable, not as hot and slightly more expensive to install. The lower lifetime cost due to its recyclability more than offsets the $10,000 higher installation cost, however. While it doesn't have crumb rubber's known drawbacks, its environmental effects are not fully known but TPE conforms to the generally stricter European standards (where it's mostly been used). The Chathams chose TPE for its multi-purpose field under construction now, after asking for bids on both crumb rubber and TPE in the bid documents.

Maplewood asked Rutgers for help in choosing turf type and wound up with organic natural fields because they had no environmental effects, were less expensive and overall more sustainable. The other options fell short in their analysis.

I believe that Madison is the equal (OK, maybe I'm more partial than that) of these nearby communities. It's hard to understand why Madison isn't having a conversation, like the other towns, about these two fields which will affect the most environmentally-sensitive group among us, children, and an environmentally-sensitive area. We're all going to drink the water--we should have the opportunity to understand the chemicals going into it. Last week's Madison Eagle editorial by Garry Herzog called for a public forum on the artificial turf fields. I would welcome a forum, especially one that looks at the fields from a sustainability viewpoint. Let Madison residents consider the fields and turf materials in terms of resource preservation (water and health), financing $3.3 million and the opportunity cost of doing so, and the effect of the fields and cumulative cost in 2020, not just 2011. I'll be cheering when Madison children can play on environmentally safe artificial turf fields in our town!