The ecology of the NFL stadium

Our future is hotter and drier.  Our population is growing.

 In Los Angeles, and most of the western United States, we need to use our water more wisely.  That means capturing rainfall, using it to naturally irrigate landscaping, and storing the excess underground for future use.

The proposed stadium plan is about as ecologically and hydrologically dumb as you can get.

Proposed NFL stadium in Inglewood, CA.

As I wrote in Did someone mention a lake? for LA Observed:

No one asked, but this scientist wants to put in her two cents.

The LAT showed some beautiful photography of the existing site. This picture doesn't look like an empty lot to me. I see permeable surfaces, water and wildlife. The birds see a home.

Put it in context of the surrounding neighborhoods. This area has a surfeit of asphalt. It would be a textbook case of the urban heat island effect EXCEPT for the cooling effect of the greenery and the water of the former Hollywood Park race track.

The site of the proposed stadium as it looked in Jan 2016. Photo credit, Mark Boster, LAT.

I also appeal to environmental justice. The mostly white, mostly affluent kids of Manhattan Beach enjoy Polliwog Park while their peers in Redondo Beach enjoy (and even camp overnight) at Hopkins Wilderness Park. Percolation Ponds can be beautiful community assets. The mostly dark-skinned and less affluent children of Inglewood deserve better than this NFL stadium plan.