Fired Activist Gets the Last Laugh: NJ Environmental Congress Honors CEO Who Took on Artificial Turf!
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A story of local activism and environmental irony played out this week as Amy McCambirdge, a Ridgewood resident and CEO of the Unbridled Heroes Project, was honored at the prestigious ANJEC Environmental Congress.
The recognition celebrates her passionate and tireless efforts to oppose the installation of artificial turf at the Schedler property in Ridgewood, NJ—the very campaign that allegedly led to her being let go from her position with Maroon’s soccer.
An Award for the Fight Against Plastic Grass
McCambirdge was recognized by the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) for her leadership and dedication to preserving natural resources and promoting a healthy community. ANJEC is New Jersey’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to empowering environmental commissions and promoting conservation across the state.
The honor highlights a compelling, and arguably frustrating, narrative: an individual allegedly penalized at the local level for taking a strong environmental stand, only to be celebrated for that exact stand by the state’s foremost environmental organization.
The NJDEP Commissioner and the Irony
Adding a sharp layer of irony to the event was the presence of NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, who served as the keynote speaker.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), which Commissioner LaTourette leads, is the state agency directly responsible for reviewing and ultimately approving the environmental permits necessary for the installation of the artificial turf at the Schedler site.
McCambirdge’s award for fighting the very thing the Commissioner’s agency approved creates a powerful juxtaposition, shining a spotlight on the often-challenging relationship between local environmental activism and state regulatory action. It serves as a stark reminder that the battle for local green spaces is often fought against both municipal decisions and state-level approvals.
This recognition not only validates McCambirdge’s efforts but brings statewide attention to the health and environmental concerns surrounding artificial turf—concerns that many residents, including those in Ridgewood, continue to raise.
The Maroons fired her for fighting against artificial turf that could be harmful to children and that is known to be harmful to the environment and our climate. The fact that this organization can do this is unreal. They should be the ones fighting for the health of our residents, but it is all about playable hours and program expansion to make money. Maroons should be renamed to “Morons”
Amy is so strong and confident in her delivery and her passion for our Ridgewood residents health and our environment and preservation of nature is truly commendable. It is really a shame that our very own council is so misdirected in their approach to the actual health and wellness of our community.
Parents of the maroons soccer club should have rallied around and supported her. WE are living in a community where people with money and influence want turf and don’t really care about the health and safety of kids. Parents like Alex F. and several others parents got together and campaigned for her to be released and allegedly made it a political witch hunt if she didn’t sign documents and a contract that forbade her to speak publicly. They should be ashamed of their behavior, it is so self serving and wrong and to try to strong arm someone to not speak out for something she believes in should be illegal. They took livelihood away, and she is a veteran. This is the Ridgewood we are living in,
A whole bunch of jerks did this to Amy, Finston dodged out of Maroons once his name was mentioned. The rest of the orgy took cover hiding out all summer because they know their mediocre players should have been canned.
NJDEP is supposed to safeguard the health of New Jersey residents and yet is okay with artificial turf. I thought La Tourette was concerned with drinking water and the planet but he seems to be non plussed by a little plastic grass here and there.
Congratulations to Amy for standing up and fighting for what’s right. It takes real courage to speak the truth and stand strong, especially when faced with unfair treatment. What those U9 A parents did by defaming her character was absolutely horrible and completely uncalled for. So proud of Amy for holding her head high and showing strength through it all. You are sorely missed by our daughters on Maroons soccer.
The d e p has numerous emails and voice messages regarding the health and well-being of any village resident and village employees that may have been infected with contaminated soil. Between the village, the DEP health officials, union officials management, mayor and council members directors and supervisors. Have all failed to do their job. Why is this. Wow the attorneys are telling them to bite their lip.
Amy is a huge asset for our town. We are so fortunate to have her fighting for the greater good of Ridgewood.
bullies
i am sure their employers would love to know how they treated a veteran woman fighting to protect our kids. clients don’t like that crap
One day when the perils of synthetic turf are undeniable (we’re actually there now), people will look back at those who pushed for it and hate and pity them.
Scott Muller, head of RBSA-doesn’t believe in PFAS in turf and doesn’t seem concerned about the health of kids in his programs, only having more turf.
Finston-alleged bad actor, would love grass…but it isn’t sustainable and his kids wreak havoc when it rains and if they are not in organized sports he doesn’t know what to do with them
Lynch, lacrosse-called one or more people “obstructionists” to progressing turf on one or more fields. later had to apologize because he picked the wrong person to accuse.
Jim Feeney-took over Maroons soccer after Clay Fisher. Both had issues with Amy one of their long standing soccer coaches (almost 20 years) speaking out against turf and got her fired (again Finston was allegedly involved).
These are just a few examples of your illustrious sports “leaders” who really don’t give a hoot about anyone’s health.
Thank you for bringing to light the toxic and ever disgusting attitude the Finston family bring to this town. Not only are the parents rude and nasty, the children are as well. The best thing they could do is leave, good bye!
It wasn’t just Finston, the new U9 Madrid team (previously U8), it was their moms who took the charge. Shameful. I think there are two girls on the team whose parents were not involved, but it was the Travell moms and the other parent was Finston. The girls absolutely adored Amy. When they fired her, they took something priceless away from our daughters.
Eight year olds playing on a year round team is the real problem!
You’ve got that right. Who is the council lady who knows all of the turf vendors?
Why are these moms controlling who we employ for sports? What aren’t we seeing
You aren’t seeing all of the dirty behind the scenes machinations of Vagianos, the council, the village manager all being pressured to employ turf fields for the kids to get outside for healthy hours of play, orchestrated by the organizations that make money. Pay to play.
Way to tarnish the good moms at Travell.
It’s easy to see the six moms of the girls on the A-Team, it’s not all Travell moms, the other moms whose daughters weren’t on the A-Team came to Aimee’s defense. It was an isolated few
These comments are an awakening, Wowzers.
And she continues to fight, exposing the wetlands that are at the Schedler property, the ones that’s the NJDEP knew about yet the council in Village manager lied. This is so much bigger than any of us think.