A Plastic Village Green
Just in time for climate change--try keeping a lush lawn alive once American latitudes turn to desert--Silver Spring, MD has installed SoftLawn to create an uncommon commnons.
It is not AstroTurf -- it is SoftLawn.Not just any SoftLawn. It's "fescue"-grade SoftLawn, made of polypropylene, supplied by Synthetic Turf International of Jupiter, Fla.
It creates a plastic village green, Silver Spring's artificial answer to Boston Common, and it will be with us for about a year at the corner of Fenton Street and Ellsworth Drive, across the intersection from City Place mall.
But here's the weird part: As an oasis in the city, as a place to walk barefoot in the park, it -- um, how to put this? -- well, to be perfectly frank: It works.
Polymers: Affordable, maintenance-free, and nonmetabolizable. Install some now and get rid of pesky animal life.
