She Refused to Be Silenced: How a New Jersey Marine’s Environmental Fight Inspired Statewide Legislation
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Amy McCambridge was given a clear choice: stop publicly speaking about environmental concerns involving local athletic fields to protect her soccer career, or keep speaking and risk losing it all.
The U.S. Marine Corps veteran chose to keep speaking. She lost her job, faced a state investigation into her nonprofit, and saw historic preservation decisions overturned. Instead of backing down, McCambridge escalated her local crusade into proposed statewide legislation—the New Jersey Living Fields Act, now under review by State Senator Raj Mukherji’s office.
The Battleground: Clean Water & Synthetic Turf
At the core of McCambridge’s advocacy is water safety. As Ridgewood, NJ, confronts ongoing PFAS contamination in its drinking water, McCambridge raised critical questions about replacing natural surfaces with synthetic turf:
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Watershed Contamination: Synthetic turf fields situated feet from natural waterways flood during heavy rains, potentially transferring PFAS and other chemical runoff directly into local water systems.
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Child Health & Safety: After two decades training youth athletes, McCambridge argues that protecting sports shouldn’t come at the cost of clean drinking water.
Infrastructure Under Threat at Zabriskie-Schedler
The fight extended to the historic Zabriskie-Schedler property, where plans for a synthetic field threaten nearly 200 mature trees along Route 17.
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Trees as Living Infrastructure: Mature trees absorb stormwater, filter highway exhaust, store carbon, and buffer neighboring homes reliant on private drinking wells.
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Cumulative Impacts: McCambridge emphasizes that incremental environmental losses across towns aggregate into complete ecosystem destruction.
Personal Costs & Targeted Backlash
McCambridge’s persistent advocacy met heavy personal and professional resistance:
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Career Loss: Refusing to stay silent on environmental issues cost McCambridge her beloved position as a professional soccer trainer.
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State Investigation: A complaint triggered a New Jersey Department of Agriculture Division of Animal Health investigation into her equine nonprofit, The Unbridled Heroes Project. Inspectors checked all 11 horses and closed the matter after finding the facility fully compliant with state standards.
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OPRA Records: Public records requests later revealed the complaint originated from a local official using a council address, highlighting the severe pushback residents can face when challenging municipal decisions.
The Solution: The New Jersey Living Fields Act
Recognizing that communities fight identical environmental battles town-by-town, McCambridge drafted the New Jersey Living Fields Act. The bill aims to establish statewide standards addressing:
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Independent scientific evaluation of synthetic surfaces.
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Protection of living soil and local watersheds.
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Comprehensive analysis of cumulative environmental impacts.
“Do not confuse consequences with being wrong. Sometimes standing for something costs you something. Stand anyway.” — Amy McCambridge
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