Mount Sinai’s Dr. Sarah Evans, an advocate for the program: “Organically maintained parks not only provide a safe and healthy environment for children to play and grow, they help to mitigate the myriad health effects caused by climate change.”
Eco-Friendly Parks for All, a coalition of environmental, public health and political action organizations that includes representatives from Mount Sinai’s Institute for Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Exposomics, has teamed up with the New York City Parks and Recreation Department and the Stonyfield dairy company to celebrate the success of pilot organic land management programs at nine sites across the five boroughs.
The event, held at Morningside Park on June 1st, included statements from advocates, legislators, and Parks Department representatives, and highlighted the organic land management strategy being employed across the City, which includes the use of compost from NYC Sanitation Department’s food scraps program. The demonstration programs are directed by nationally recognized natural turf expert Chip Osborne with funding from Stonyfield and Stop & Shop and were initiated by the coalition following the 2021 ban on chemical pesticides in New York City parks, legislation that Institute researchers advocated in support of for many years.
Sarah Evans, PhD MPH, is a member of Mount Sinai’s Institute for Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Exposomics and a long-time advocate for pesticide-free parks. Watch the video or read her full remarks:
“I am thrilled be here to speak on behalf of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. As public health scientists and pediatricians, we recognize that pesticide-free parks are a true victory for the health of all New Yorkers.
Access to green spaces is an essential part of a healthy childhood, yet children’s natural propensity to roll in the grass and dig in the dirt leaves their rapidly developing systems especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticides. They also put their hands in their mouths and even breathe more air than adults making them more likely to inhale chemicals. With the implementation of pesticide-free parks, families will no longer have to worry that going to the park will expose their children to chemicals linked to a long list of health problems, including nervous system toxicity, cancers, hormone disruption, asthma, and more.
Organically maintained parks not only provide a safe and healthy environment for children to play and grow, they help to mitigate the myriad health effects caused by climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuel-based products and creating healthy soil. Organic parks are particularly important in environmental justice and communities of color that bear a disproportionate burden of pesticide exposures as well as climate change impacts and associated health inequities. The creation of pesticide-free parks has far-reaching effects on protecting the health of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.
Pesticide-free parks are also a public health victory for City workers. Pesticide applicators are at higher risk of certain cancers as well as heart disease and stroke, outcomes that have been linked to their exposures to pesticides on the job. For many years, our Mount Sinai team has counseled families and communities across the state and the US on the importance of eliminating synthetic pesticides in areas where children play. Too often municipalities respond that organically maintained parks are simply an impossibility. As you can see right under your feet today, the City of New York is charting a course for the Nation. I can’t wait to respond to those who question whether beautiful, pesticide-free parks can be a reality with “New York City did it, and you can too!”