I’ve never been an environmentalist. I am somewhere in between feeling very passionate about not littering and having never fathomed donating money to “save the whales” or some other cause. However, I do have very strong feelings about nature and keeping her beautiful. My brother seems to feel the same way; just last week we were walking on the sidewalk near his home and he picked up a plastic bag with dog poop in it. From my amazement I said, “Man, that’s pretty hardcore picking that up! You must love Mother Nature.” He said, “Yeah, someone just left a bag of old chocolate.” After realizing what he was actually carrying, he found out he wasn’t as big of an environmentalist as he had thought. He didn’t even make it to a proper trash receptacle before dropping the litter back on the ground where he found it. I guess we all have our limits. I surely didn’t pick it up behind him.
So staying within those limits, I am not going to analyze the different impact on the environment from eating a plant-based diet vs. a meat-based diet or discuss how much of an environmental impact manufacturing the gear you buy has (although biodegradable shoes are pretty sweet). You need your gear and you want your protein. So what can we do to help the environment but still eat Vienna sausages and wear as many fanny packs as we want?
You can start by being environmentally friendly on every run. “Pack it in, Pack it out,” was a mantra we used to say in Boy Scouts and I still use today. It reminds us that while running trails, we want to have as little impact on the environment as possible. Although it may not be as extreme as you wanna be, but while running on a designated trail you should always stay on the correct path. Don’t run in the woods around other runners and please run over obstacles instead of around them…you shouldn’t be running around anything on the trail anyways. Running off the trail leads to erosion and other environmental problems. Also while sprinting through the forest make sure you respect the other animals. You are traveling through the animal’s homes and we were not really invited. When you encounter wildlife treat them like you are guest in their home and respect their right to privacy. One thing you can do to improve the environment is try run with a plastic bag to pick up trash. Be an Eco-Runner. Whoever you want to be, remember that trail running is all about mutual respect between you and your environment.
Of course those few tips are just the bare minimum for being environmentally friendly; you don’t want to just do the bare minimum do you? Of course not, you’re better than that. The best thing to do is to go out and volunteer to clean your favorite trail. There are plenty of local organizations that do weekly trail clean-ups which not only pick up trash but repair trails and conduct general maintenance on them. There is no better feeling (except maybe a runner’s high) than volunteering to clean up the environment. So stop getting high for a minute and give back to Ms Nature.
Finally, put the environment above your ego, grab a trash bag and forget about your next PR. Future generations will break it anyways, so congratulate them with the gift of a healthy environment!