StonyFIELDS Initiative featuring Bug Light Park

Stonyfield Organic is a must have in our house and has been a trusted product that our family always goes to. We are constantly going on day trips and adventures to the park, and Stonyfield yogurt pouches are perfect for those on the go snacks. Stonyfield is celebrating their 35th anniversary and dedicating this year and at least the next three to raise awareness on an often overlooked issue within our environment and the issue of exposure to pesticides in our children’s playing fields and the community spaces where they spend their time.

I love that Stonyfield is making a commitment to not only have healthier people through healthier food, but having a healthier planet through organic agriculture and field management programs. Our kids are the future and having them play on fields that may have been sprayed with harmful chemicals, is a very scary thought.  During a recent survey that Stonyfield did, they surprisingly found out that 69% of parents were looking to lessen the exposure to pesticides in their children’s foods, yet 67% did not consider sports fields, playgrounds or parks to be an area of concern.

Parents are more likely to buy a product labeled organic to avoid pesticides but may not realize those same pesticides are being sprayed in areas where kids play. Over 26 million kids playing on public grounds and most playing fields and parks that kiddos play on are treated with a chemical cocktail of herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. These chemicals have been proven or are likely endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the development of a child’s immune, reproductive, and metabolic systems.

Children, especially are vulnerable to these chemicals and the adverse effects of pesticide exposure can affect them in more than one way, even at low levels. The reason why children are at much more of a risk is that they have a larger surface-to-volume ratio and more permeable skin, making it easier for those chemicals to absorb into their skin. For these reasons alone, it’s easy to decide that I want my kids to be playing on organic fields.

The StonyFIELDS Initiative is a half million dollar, three-year program to help 35 communities across the country to covert outdoor fields and parks to organic managment. We have enough to worry about as parents, so why should we have to worry about exposing our kids to harmful chemicals while they are playing sports that they love?

As their first city in the program, Stonyfield Organic teamed up with South Portland to enhance the quality of the fields at Bug Light Park here in Maine, by offering financial assistance and education for an organic maintenance program free from harmful pesticides. The program kicked off with a field day event, the first field day for Stonyfield, and it was a huge success!

The event featured games, crafts, food from Stonyfield and Wholefoods, Yoga for both adults & kiddos, local landscaper demos, ribbon cutting with the mayor and a ton of information and tips to help make your own backyard organic and pesticide free. The weather was perfect and all around you heard laughs from the kiddos who were having a blast.

Join myself and Stonyfield in dedicating this year, and beyond, to bringing greater awareness about possible exposure to pesticides in children’s outdoor playing fields and community spaces.

Want to learn more and read about communities that are already making progress? Check out this link: https://www.stonyfield.com/playfree and make sure to check out the StonyFIELDS video here!

This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Organic, but as always the opinions above are 100% my own.

Xo,

Ashley