Why I Think Running Will Save The World

This World Environment Day AND Global Running Day, ultra runner and For Wild Places CEO Hilary McAllister shares why she thinks running is the key to confronting the climate crisis.

We can support a healthy future for our planet in many ways, from buying ethically to divesting our super, using public transport, and electrifying our homes. But how can running help save the world?

Today, as World Environment Day (5th June) and Global Running Day (first Wednesday of June) intersect, I call upon all runners, athletes, back-of-the-packers, and newfound running club die-hards to recognise the power and potential of running to help save this planet.

Read more: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Trail Running

Events like the Pilliga Ultra immerse runners in nature to foster appreciation and inspire conservation | @capucinemerlant

Why running?

When we double knot our laces and hit ‘start’ on our watch, we head outside, immersed in nature and the elements. To preserve these things, we need to experience them and appreciate them.

Running, whether fast or slow, in the rain, hail, or shine, helps us know and grow to love our neighbourhoods, trails, rivers, and beaches, and become more connected, caring people.

COVID lockdowns saw a steep increase in the popularity of running, purely due to the accessibility of this somewhat simple sport. Out of necessity, people explored their neighbourhoods and discovered an appreciation of their local green and brown spaces.

Look at the endorphins go! | By Tori Simpson

People found solace in nature; a rare moment of freedom from the four walls of our homes and unrelenting news feeds. Several years later, the rise of running has seen a dramatic increase in the popularity of run clubs. What was once a solo sport has become a healthy and affordable way to stay fit, motivated, and connected.

Read more: In a New City? Go Running!

Protect What You Love

This phrase, ‘protect what you love,’ is the ethos of trail running organisation For Wild Places, which connects runners with events and initiatives to protect wild places under threat.

The FWP gang taking three (and then some) for the sea | @jtfilmandphoto

As one of the co-founders of this group, I know that our mission may be simple, but it’s by no means small. By harnessing the power of running, physically and metaphorically, For Wild Places hopes to channel that energy into activism, to ensure the places we love to explore stay wild.

To do this, people need to get out there amongst it and experience nature’s raw and changing beauty. We need to feel a part of it rather than an irrelevant passerby.  We must reassess our priorities as responsible outdoor people and become active within our community to care for the places we recreate.

The crew in Lorne | @jtfilmandphoto

Why do our wild places need us?

We’re living in a changing climate and a changing world. If you’re taking the time to read this article, you appreciate the mammoth task ahead of us, as a local and global community, to halt the rising temperature in its tracks.

To achieve this, we need action at all levels, individual, societal, political, and international, to ensure the ecosystems we traverse on our group runs stay healthy in a changing climate.

Sometimes the trash you pick up on trail is celebratory balloons? | @calumnhockey

Slowing down to appreciate the world on a human scale, whether walking or running, allows us to see what’s around us. It allows us to slow down, smell, look at, and, in my case, talk to the flowers, birds and curious critters we encounter along the way.

Or be stopped in your tracks by a dazzling, radiating orb as the sunrise edges over the horizon. These experiences make us human, but it is easy to forget that in our modern online world.

Join the Sports Activism Movement

Thanks to Elle Woods, we know that ‘Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot [people].’ Nor do they want to see this beautiful and biodiverse planet suffocate under oppressive air pollution and rivers of rubbish, or be burnt beyond belief in a bushfire.

As people regularly immersed in nature, I call upon all runners, whether you pound the pavements or wind your way along rocky single track, to use your climate-change-fighting combination of endorphins, energy, and empathy for good – to help protect nature.

Read more: I Spent 5 Days With Strangers Trekking in takayna For Charity

takayna Trail is another great example of sports activism | @majellb

How To Get Active

There are many ways to support our wild places, with options to suit time-poor, dirt-adverse, inner-city dwelling or high-flying-corporate runners. Some simple first steps on your marathon journey of becoming a sports activist might include:

• Take 3 for the Trail: Simply pick up three pieces of rubbish every time you step out onto the trail (or footpath).
• Volunteer – There are plenty of local Friends of, Landcare and community groups that organise working bees in parks, along rivers and more.
• Donate to an environmental-based charity – such as For Wild Places. Times are tough in the charity sector; if you can spare $10 a week, it can go a long way.
• Buy or sell second-hand running gear – whether you’re upgrading or bought the wrong size, Facebook Marketplace has the gear you need.
• Dispose of retired running gear thoughtfully by recycling shoes or clothing rather than sending them to landfill.

As we celebrate the convergence of these two special days, I call upon you, the runners, the walkers, the sprinters, and the ultramarathoners, to harness your superpower as wild-loving runners. Let’s celebrate the places this sport takes us and the people who join us for the journey. Together, we can unite to protect the places we love to explore and empower every runner to become a sports activist.

Header image thanks to @jtfilmandphoto