✊Fighting to Stop Toxic, Polluting Artificial Turf in Ithaca, NY☠️

Our affiliate, Zero Waste Ithaca, has been working hard to prevent Ithaca College from installing artificial turf, a polluting and dangerous alternative to real grass. Within just one month, they've gathered more than 900 signatures on their student-led petition, demonstrating growing public resistance to the College's plastic grass plan. Yet even after this public outcry and articles published in the College's own newspaper detailing the toxicity, equity issues, and injuries from artificial turf, and this critical piece in The Ithaca Times, the College appears set on moving forward.

Zero Waste Ithaca responded by hosting a Rapid Response Rally at the gates of the college in early June to which they invited journalists, students, faculty and staff and concerned citizens. Check out their awesome signs below! The rally was attended by reporters from four local and regional outlets, resulting in coverage including this WHCU story, Ithaca Times article, piece in The Ithaca Voice, and Tompkins Weekly story.

The group followed the rally up with a grassroots call relay to the President's office last Monday which generated more than 50 calls urging them to change course. Hats off to Zero Waste Ithaca for their advocacy and we sincerely hope the College listens to the community's requests. Should the College move forward, Zero Waste Ithaca will test the local water pre-installation to determine a baseline for PFAS and other pollutants and then repeat in one year to determine the impact of the artificial turf on local groundwater.

Pro-tip: if you're considering hosting a rally, click here for our step-by-step guide.