Even with that news, I'm not giving up that easily. If you are at a school that has rubber chips and would like them removed, please let me know if you would be willing to brainstorm ideas this winter or early spring. I have some funders in mind and you might as well, so together we could come up with a plan for your school. In the meantime, I plan to meet with the district Buildings and Grounds, LPEF and the La Crosse Community Foundation to gather more ideas.
The UWL research team got through all the samples from the Earth Fair. They are putting together the data which was consistent with the trail tests, showing high lead levels. They will be presenting about their journey at a Rotary of La Crosse meeting on December 7th at noon. If anyone would like to come as my guest or would watch it over Zoom, let me know. They will also be summarizing their results (and maybe publishing) so that we can use this information to make informed decisions in the future.
Additionally, we should be done with our first draft of the Rubber Chip Removal Toolkit by early December. We're looking for people to have review and give feedback. We will send it to this email list to ask for help, but if you know of more people who would make a good reviewer, please let me know.
Personally, I was able to travel to Denmark and Sweden last month to look at natural playground designs (example shown above).
Jamie
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And, our project's Thriving Earth Exchange scientist, Brendan Turley, has been sharing information about how a chemical found in tires, known as 6PPD, has been shown to have devastating effects on salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest, providing another reason to remove these recycled tire pieces from the environment.
Read the article about researchers' processes and discovery here: https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/12/03/tire-related-chemical-largely-responsible-for-adult-coho-salmon-deaths-in-urban-streams/
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