Celebrate World Earth Day by joining The Green Runners
It’s World Earth Day, and what better day to announce the launch of a new running club that will help the planet that any runner can join?
We all know running doesn’t always have a positive effect on Earth, particularly with travel to races in far-flung locations and the fact that there’s always shiny new kit tempting us.
To help combat this, The Green Runners has launched in order to better inform runners of how they can reduce their impact on the planet when training, eating and racing so they can make decisions about how to change their behaviour.
The community-based group was co-founded by runners Damian Hall, Jasmin Paris and Russell Bentley, and partners include Trees Not Tees and ReRun Clothing.
‘Lots of people are very concerned about our climate, the ecological emergency and how urgent things are,’ Hall tells Runner’s World. ‘So with some like-minded runners, we decided we wanted to spread awareness towards behavioural change towards a fitter planet, both for individuals and more systemic change.’
They have done this by aiming to raise awareness around four key pillars of running: how you move, including thinking more about reducing travel to races and offsetting your journey when you do; how you kit-up, including buying less kit, and trying to repair and recycle kit; how you eat, such as consuming locally produced food, thinking about packaging, and reducing meat and dairy consumption; and how you speak up and spread information to others.
‘Our goal is to spread awareness,’ says Hall. ‘We hope this will help contribute towards net zero or dramatically reducing global emissions – scientists say we need to reduce emissions by 45 percent this decade, so it's super-urgent, and the next four years are critical.’
You can join the club and become a Green Runner on The Green Runners website by pledging to make your own changes, such as buying less kit or travelling less per year, as well as donating to the campaign. ‘Come and join us and spread the message,’ encourages Hall. ‘It's just a £2.50 donation and that covers postage of your Green Runners badge.’
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