Running On Carbon

Sustainability through the eyes of a runner

Discussing the intersect between running, sustainability and society. Practical advice, topic discussion and critical thinking; with some running thrown in for fun. Taking a critical thinking approach to sustainability issues, through a runner’s lens.

Open to serious comments and discussions but free time dependent. All thoughts are my own and informed from 15+ years in the sustainability field and running world. Photo – sunrise Lake Atitlán, Guatemala; a plastic free community

Why mediocracy is not a viable strategy in a code red scenario – part II consumer information

See Part I here for corporate claims discussion Short version. The scale of the climate emergency needs an equivalent level of action. With not all claims being equal there is a need to better inform society about who is taking credible ambitious action and who are falling short of what is needed (or not even…

Why mediocracy is not a viable strategy in a code red scenario – part I credible corporate action

Short version. When it comes to climate change, all action is good action. However, not all announcements and approaches are equal. We won’t save the planet with half efforts. We, as engaged informed professionals and citizens, need to celebrate those going the extra mile more than those just going through the paces. Either within our roles and…

Don’t judge climate actions, judge outcomes

With global concern around climate and biodiversity loss increasing year on year and following the dire warnings around COP26, many people and businesses are looking to set new resolutions to do their part to combat it. Increasing amounts of action is fantastic but often falls into the trap of what I describe as being “target…

Reebok GROW – steps to sustainable or sustaining status quo?

As posted on midnightrunners.com Most runners care for the environment; after all it’s where we chose to spend our free time. When I heard Reebok were bringing out a sustainable “plant based” shoe I was excited to give it a try. Being a sustainability professional, I’m always interested in the impact of my choices. Going…

Can sustainable behaviours help your pocket as well as the planet

“Weekend running the Pennines: *Cost – train £40 vs car £80/90. *Time – 1:40 cycle + 3 hr train vs 5:40 car. *Carbon: train 18kg vs car 30-50kg. *Bonus: train time to work/chill, less traffic stress, get exercise in, ease of toilets/comfort. All numbers one way” As posted on thegreenrunners.com website. The cost of living…

Sustainability myths

Number of short summaries of different sustainability myths.

Why you’ll never choose the tube again

The not so secret, secret to moving around cities and towns. As an avid cyclist I’ve always felt in on a secret or life hack that few other urbanites were not privy to.

Lockdown sustainability

Home actions – things you can do at home to save the environment and some money. Why not chose a few and tick one or two off a day/week.

Streaming what’s the impact?

The world is being held hostage to corona virus. We’re all stuck inside with working, socialising and trying to stay entertained reliant upon the internet and streaming services, but what’s the impact? There’s lots of misinformation out there, such as “a Google search uses the same energy as boiling a cup of tea” (it doesn’t)…

Fashion, Clothes and Shopping: Part III

Part III of my deep dive into the impacts of the fashion and clothing industry, what materials and clothes are best, how to care for your clothes, what to do at end of life and (in this part) how to shop responsibly.

Clothes, Fashion and Shopping – Part II

Part II. all about how to care for clothes and what materials to choose. Many of the tips to reduce this impact focus on keeping items in use for longer (reducing impact per wear), this requires caring for clothes appropriately, extending their useful life and maintaining quality.

Fashion, clothes and shopping – part I

Depending on how you measure it Fashion and Clothing are responsible for 10% of Global emissions and 20% of waste generated, along with a significant use of resources and creating environmental harm For example growing cotton alone, uses 20% of the world’s fresh water, 18% of pesticide use and 25% of insecticide use.

Being honest, personal choices, planting trees and Ecosia

Following from last week’s post on the issues with tree planting initiatives for climate change, I thought I’d do my review of Ecosia. Having looked online, no one provided a good summary of environmental action of continuing current practices, but directing some profit to the environmental (often tree planting).

Why tree planting won’t save us

Trees are awesome! However we can’t rely on them to save us. We are in deep trouble and need to be honest about taking serious action. As well as, planting more trees.

Designing out E-waste and thinking circular

With the furore about plastics we may be missing some of the bigger issues, especially electronic waste (e-waste). How planned obsolescence, poor designs and our desire for the latest gadgets is causing environmental harm.

2020 a seriously big year for the planet

Keeping the focus on the new year, 2020 is going to be a seriously big year for climate action and may well be held up as the year we averted global catastrophe, or maybe not…

Carbon footprint – 2019 running year in review

Very little in life is impact free, overall running is a relatively low carbon activity but that does not mean we can discount it. If we want to protect the natural environment for future runners yet to come, we should be aware of the impacts and reduce them where possible.

New year’s food resolutions – my take

Being plant based is better for the environment and your health, but going 100% vegan is hard. Ideally we should all make smart swaps, habitualise the change then make the next swap, leading to long term change, beyond just a month.

SUV’s the scourge of cites and the environment

In short: they take up more space on the road, release more air pollution, lead to a rise in carbon emissions and are less safe for both the occupants and non-occupants.

12 tips of Christmas

Daily tips to make sure Christmas is both amazing and doesn’t cost the Earth.

Flying – Just Plane Wrong?

Flying has opened up the world for travel, sharing cultures and connecting humanity. However, it is also hugely carbon intensive, hard to reduce emissions from and set to continue to grow.

Working remotely or remotely working

Working from home environmental solution or not? In short yes, but only if you have a long commute, don’t over heat your home and your office rationalises the space reducing their emissions.

Buy less be happy

We all want to be happy, but we also all want a healthy functioning planet. Can we have both?

Organic food: Corn-fusing us all

Wanting to eat “healthier” and protect the environment, we are told “buy organic” as part of the solution. Organic food makes intuitive sense: nature is good, artificial is bad. The problem is that is not always true. Think of organic as what it is, a marketing ploy to sell more expensive food which is needed…

Food miles? Dough-nut worry about them

The skinny: transport is a tiny part of total impact of the food you buy, its all about the production. Try to be seasonal to production area and think about how food’s been grown and produced.

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