"Orange Dust"

 Before my college days, I played field hockey in both middle and high school for five years. I remember the field we practiced on quite well. It was standard size with two nets at opposite ends, had white lines that sectioned off the grass field and was notorious for leaving orange residue all over cleats, shin guards, shorts, sticks, and hands. When my team first started noticing this "orange dust" on all of our apparel we asked our coach what it was. She said it was just a fungus and to make sure to wash our hands. After asking our coach about the dust, the grass was practically clear of the fungus the next day. But every season- when the weather peaked, the fungus would return for a few days and would be gone like magic as soon as a parent would inquire about the dust to the athletic director.

I recently looked into the pesticide/fungicide use at my former high school. It turns out there really does exist a grass "rust" fungus that typically appears in certain kinds of grasses in hot weather, however, in order to eradicate it entirely for a season requires the use of fungicides.

I played and ran on this field, I would lay in it to do curl ups, planted my hands into the ground to do push ups, I even ate snacks and would place my mouthguard down on this field. No one was ever told about the use of fungicides on my field hockey field and it was not until recently that I learned about how detrimental fungicides can be on one's future health. According to Sandra Steingraber (Living Downstream): 54 million pounds of synthetic pesticides are applied each year. In addition to this alarming rate, pesticides do not always stay on the fields where they are sprayed.

"They evaporate and drift in the air. They dissolve in water and flow downhill into streams and creeks. They bind to soil particles and rise into the air as dust. They migrate into glacial aquifers and thereby enter groundwater. They fall in the rain. They are found in snowflakes. And fog. And wind. And clouds. And backyard swimming pools." 

Some pesticides have been linked to cancer.

After further research, I found out that my former high school, Webster Schroeder High School, falls in the 10th percentile (12,339 of 127, 809) as having some of the worst polluted air in America's schools (Special USA Today report- The Smokestack Effect). It has some of the worst exposures to cancer causing toxins as well as exposures to others harmful chemicals including: 70% Sulfuric Acid, 12% Chlorine, 7% Hydrochloric acid, 6% Chromium/Chromium compounds, and 2% Manganese/Manganese compounds. According to this report, polluters most responsible for these toxins outside the school include: Eastman Kodak Co, Russell Station, Ferronics Inc, Arch Chemicals Inc, and Delphi Energy & Chassis Rochester.

I am not implying that my high school field hockey field will give me cancer. I do believe it has elevated my chances to one day develop some form of cancer, although the development of cancer depends on a combination of genetics, lifestyle, and environmental factors.

I was not able to find out anything about Canisius College and the pollution in the surrounding air or about the use of pesticides. According to one faculty member- "There are a lot of pesticides used, and something should be done to stop it."

In the pictures I took this weekend and observing my area, there are no signs of pesticide use so far ("signs" meaning both physical signs staked in the ground to warn about pesticide use and "signs" meaning no residue stains or dead insects/weeds were observed). I imagine I will observe the use of pesticides once the winter season concludes and the warm spring air arrives. 

 

However, in other news- now that the snow has almost completely melted away over the course of the past two days, the appearance of garbage is beginning to spring up. Cigarette buds, a bottle cap, a straw, and a piece of gum were observed in my spot in the quad. Although the quad appears to still look as clean and orderly as normal, does anyone ever stop to question the ways in which we treat our land, spraying pesticides or placing the ground litter elsewhere, to give it the appearance of being healthy is wrong? Because as we all have experienced in some point in our lives, a piece of fruit may appear to look, feel, and smell healthy and normal on the outside, but can be absolutely rotten and unhealthy in the inside.