rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/no-extra-funding-for-plastic-fields-mcps?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-no-extra-funding-for-plastic-fields-mcps' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Climate Coalition Montgomery County https://actionnetwork.org/groups/climate-coalition-montgomery-county https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/letters/photos/000/445/018/normal/Petition_for_natural_grass_at_MCPS_-_collage.png ACTION NEEDED BY MAY 5: The recent council vote to fully restore funding for the MCPS athletic fields initiative, for plastic synthetic turf fields, was split 6-5. BUT it was not the final vote. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE   By speaking out (writing and calling), you can encourage the council to use “the power of the purse” to start to rescue our kids - and the county budget - from the unhealthy extravagance of hot, toxin-laden, plastic- play surfaces. The recommended reduction in overall funding for athletic fields leaves sufficient funding for MCPS to fully upgrade the fields in question. It is MCPS’s choice: either a few fields as plastic synthetic turf or at least 4 times as many fields as modern, cool, healthy, more durable grass fields at the targeted schools, and more.   Unless it is stopped, the county council is on the verge of fully funding Montgomery County Public Schools to pave ALL remaining MCPS high school playfields with dozens of acres of hot, toxin-laden, disposable, plastic fake grass carpets (aka artificial or synthetic turf) instead of more modern, safe, healthy, cost-effective, durable, sustainable turf-grass fields --- > --> At an extravagant cost of more than $70 million — just in the next six years. Furthermore, MCPS will be locked in to continually replacing some of the 60+ acres of plastic carpeting at $1 million per field for decades to come, a cost NOT associated with real grass). In the meantime, the majority of the hundreds of school fields that are still grass, and will remain grass, languish from lack of equitable investment, oversight and neglect. Take action today and use this Action Alert to reach out to your Councilmember to support natural grass fields at MCPS! Make your voice heard, your opinion matters! Read here for more informationand feel free to include any of it in your letters or calls https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-extra-funding-for-plastic-fields-mcps