poisoning the babe?
permalink | categories: city, county, environment, government, health, history, sport, tampaby LaraDiamond @ 7:16 pm
As someone who lives on the Babe Zaharias golf course, I’ve always been a little leery of the stuff I see groundskeepers spreading on it. Sometimes the chemical smell is overpowering. Sometimes my dog and cat get inexplicable itchy blisters.
I worry about the ducks, squirrels, frogs, lizards, turtles, Sandhill cranes, ibis, bluejays, mockingbirds, and even hawks and spoonbills that hang out there. I never see a single rabbit, raccoon or possum, which were all plentiful in Seminole Heights, where I used to live. I also worry about the guys who work on the course every day and the kids and elderly people who live there, absorbing those chemicals through their skin and lungs.
Then the St. Pete Times ran a story about the Sports Authority using a dangerous chemical called Curfew at the Babe. Of course the Sports Authority says they use it properly, meaning within the guidelines set by manufacturer Dow Chemical, based on studies Dow Chemical paid for.
I know I trust chemical manufacturers to place my health above their profits. How about you?
I have dealt with representatives from the Sports Authority before on safety issues and can say that the ones I spoke with could care less about my health and safety. Even if you don’t live on the golf course or near it, those chemicals enter the air and the groundwater.
I love the Babe, but for the fact is that it is not currently being operated in a way that is responsible to the environment and the community. But there is hope.
More than 2,110 golf courses in 24 countries around the world have become greater assets and reduced the harm they do by joining and becoming certified by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses.
“The ACSP is an award winning education and certification program that helps golf courses protect our environment and preserve the natural heritage of the game of golf. By helping people enhance the valuable natural areas and wildlife habitats that golf courses provide, improve efficiency, and minimize potentially harmful impacts of golf operations, the ACSP serves as vital resource for golf courses… The ACSP is all about results. Participating golf courses improve environmental performance and community relations, reduce liability, save money, and contribute to the conservation of our environment.”
If you’ve got the time, drop in at the City Council meeting Thursday at 9am and tell the Tampa Sports Authority to show some intelligence and responsibility to the community and the environment. Based on my past experiences with them, I have a hunch they won’t do it unless forced to by the public.
The Babe, by the way, is one of Tampa’s more interesting historic sites. Creative Loafing ran a great story about the Babe some time ago.
Tags: Babe Zaharias golf course, Curfew Dow Chemical, Tampa Sports Authority
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June 5th, 2008 at 10:27 am
What about water? Even under Phase II restrictions, most of our local golf courses are permitted to use HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of gallons of water every day. Some use reclaimed water but many don’t. That’s a serious waste and it needs to stop.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Yeah, golf courses in general are water hogs and The Babe is no exception. There are some really cool golf courses and golf course designers now that use native plants and xeriscaping to drastically reduce the water they use, in some cases using no watering at all. Hurdzan/Fry Environmental Golf Course Design is one of the most famous: http://www.hurdzanfry.com/ and has won numerous awards, including two for its course in Naples, FL. I’ve seen some of the designs and they are really cool. the ones in the desert basically have green only in the tee boxes and holes. They present interesting challenges to golfers too and some even attract a new breed of eco-tourist golfer. Sure would be nice if we set the standard and did something like that, but since the city just spent a lot of money on its golf courses, I think it’s unlikely.
Personally, I’d like to see water rationing across the entire country, not just watering days in which people who can afford to can waste all the water they want. Commercial and public uses like golf courses would be rationed too. Then they would have to find other ways to landscape.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Lara:
It’s interesting the parallel “course” I’m taking regarding the golf course of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club. The City of Temple Terrace owns the golf course land and the club leases it in in 50 year stretches. It is a private club established in 1922.
Anyway, I have also suggested that they join the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, and they also use Curfew, as well as lots of Roundup and other stuff I can’t identify. The course also currently uses well water to irrigate.
Every golf course in the county should be on reclaimed water in addition to using lots of native plants/exeriscaping as you’ve suggested. Using reclaimed water on golf courses is the perfect use as long as it is properly filtered. Pesticide and fertilizer in the water runoff from golf courses is and will also be a huge problem in the future. On our course it’s a big potential problem as a large part of the course
borders the Hillsborough river.
The best golf courses in my opinion are those that also double as wildlife habitat, but this is only a recent direction.
Certainly, you must know by now that most golfers, and the local golf culture in general is not about any of the above, they just want to hit the little white ball around and have a good time. Oh, and the golf course culture is very resistant to change, but somethings gotta give.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Ah yes, Keith, I have noticed the golf course culture (and the Tampa Sports Authority) are not about environmentalism or change. (Many of the golfers on the Babe seem more about drinking beer and driving their carts around my yard than hitting that little white ball.) And I hope someday that golf courses will be required to double as wildlife habitats in exchange for all the public resources they consume.
Interesting thing about Curfew and Audubon I learned today is that, at least according to the TSA’s golf course manager Kenny Sims, the Audubon certification program approves the use of Curfew. I haven’t verified that yet, but I will if Janet Zink doesn’t in her follow-up story for the Times. Still, it’s better than nothing, I guess.
I was pretty pleased with the seriousness that Tampa City Council gave to the issue today. I am starting to feel the stirrings in my cynical heart that people across the political spectrum are starting to realize that proper stewardship of our environment is not a partisan issue and not simply the province of alarmists and tree huggers.
With all this attention in the press about Curfew right now, it might be a good time to get Temple Terrace city council (commission?) to lean on the TT golf course. I think you’ve got a lot of environmentally conscious people in Temple Terrace, probably more than we have on the Babe, but I was pleased and surprised at the turnout today from the ‘hood.
As for using reclaimed water, again a very good point. The Babe uses some, but I think it also pumps from wells around the course.