Green Options » playground

White House Playground Covered With Harmful Mulch, Says Environmental Group

Amanda Peterka — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:43:20 +0000

The Obamas may have planted a fresh and healthy garden on the White House lawn, but their playground for the kids is anything but healthy, according to an environmental-health group.

Environment and Human Health contends that the used-tire mulch covering the playground causes skin and eye irritation and destroys mucus membranes, reports the Seattle Times. The group cites a review done by Sinai Hospital in New York in March that reported that playgrounds made from used tired tend to get very hot and can cause kids to get skin infections and inhale toxins and carcinogens.

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Lower Ninth Ward New Orleans gets $500,000 Eco-Friendly Playground

Derek Markham — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:12:15 +0000

The most technologically advanced, eco-friendly, solar powered playground, the first of its kind in North America, is being dedicated in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward today.

The Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans suffered catastrophic flooding after Hurricane Katrina pummeled New Orleans on August 29, 2005, and many of the residents lost their homes.

They also lost something else.

Playgrounds.

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A Lesson in Patience: Natural Playgrounds Made From Trees

Jennifer Lance — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:10:14 +0000

Kids growing up in the mountains where I live love to tie young trees’ trunks into knots. As you drive along the roads, you often see older trees with trunks twisted long ago by young hands. Plantware has taken this concept even further in designing a living playground for children by manipulating roots and trunks.

Plantware has made benches, love seats, street lights, gates, etc. from living trees. “Kinder Forest: A Living Playground” takes the idea even further:

KinderForest gives children real trees to play with, gives parents a natural alternative for their children and gives earth urban reforestation that is functional, enjoyable and green. Creating structures from living trees means that ~95% of the playground’s mass is taken from the air using local sunlight and rain. No gasoline-burning chainsaws, trucks, ships or waste. Such structures can live for 700 years and are self repairing, earthquake safe, oxygen producing and provide a habitat for wildlife coinciding with their purpose for humans.

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Safer Play Sets and Play Sand-

Katy Farber — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:17:33 +0000

Finally, the warmer season is here, and thoughts turn to outside play for the whole family. For many of us this includes watching our kids of playing on a play set, swinging happily in the June sun, or scooping up sand in a sand box.

But there are a few potential environmental health problems with this scene. The play set, if bought before 2004, could be treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), which according to the Green Guide, “the basis of which is arsenic, a carcinogenic chemical that can leach out of CCA-treated wood onto children’s hands and into soil and groundwater. Although CCA has been banned in residential uses since 2004, millions of CCA-treated play sets still exist.”

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Spring Sports on Green Grass

Lee Welles — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:57:11 +0000

Do you take your kids to the park? Sign them up for soccer or softball? Parents who care about their children’s health likely encourage outdoor play and participation in organized sports. In the spring, as we begin to shop for soccer cleats and baseball mitts; it is wise to investigate how your schools and municipalities manage their green spaces.

Pesticide exposure is a serious health risk to children. And while limiting, or better yet, eliminating ingested pesticides is important, consider the direct exposure your children may get while they play upon that green, green grass.

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