For Saul Maldonado, planting with his 7-year-old son, Nicholas, isn’t just a hobby — the family is putting down roots in their Los Angeles community while transforming the playground at Nicholas’ school.
“Kids stay indoors,” Maldonado told CBS News. “They want to be on the tablet. They want to be on the phone because there’s nowhere safe for them to be outside and play.”
Outdoor play isn’t always easy to come by. An estimated 28 million kids in the U.S. don’t have easy access to parks or green spaces, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.
“If you look around our community outside these walls, what we really have is a concrete jungle,” said Adriana Abich, who runs Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, where Nicholas is a student.
Until recently, the school’s playground was mostly asphalt, which had drawbacks beyond its look. Blacktops absorb and trap heat, and can reach up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Abich said it was a drain on the students.
She said the difference between students coming back from the playground and their peers was noticeable.
“Being tired, being extremely overheated,” Abich said.
The school partnered with Trust for Public Land to rebuild and maintain a new outdoor space. Nola Eaglin Talmage, a program director at the Trust for Public Land’s Los Angeles Parks for People, showed CBS News how the new grass and greenery help cool the playground by a whopping 40 degrees.
“Providing children shade to play is a critical health need,” she said. “Beyond the heat, trees and plants mitigate pollution. The more canopy trees we can provide, the more those trees are actually cleaning the air for the children.”
The nonprofit is on a mission to provide even more access to nature.
“For kids, it helps them with their development, ability to regulate emotions, with their ability to imagine and conceive,” Talmage said.
Genesis, 9, remembers the old blacktop. She said she didn’t like playing on it, but enjoys the new green space.
“It’s more natural, it’s more fun, ’cause there’s grass, you can play,” she said.
Maldonado said that years from now, “I want my community to be clean. I want the community to be safe. I want to see families with, with their kids at the park, playing and riding a bike.”
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