Category: Uncategorized
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How Long Should My Running Shoes Last?
I’m afraid of running injuries. In my teens and 20s, I spent too much time getting PT and not enough time putting in the miles. So when a shoe brand tells me to replace my shoes every few hundred miles (often 300-400 miles with Strava defaulting to a reminder at 250 miles), I’m inclined to
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What is Greenwashing?
The term “greenwashing” comes up a lot in the news, in marketing, and in some of my own posts so I figure it’s time to define what it is and why it matters. Greenwashing is defined as the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or
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State of the Sport – PTRA Environmental Ethical Boundaries
This week, the Pro Trail Runners Association (PTRA) published Environmental Ethical Boundaries for Trail Running Competitions. The boundaries and guidelines address the need for environmental consideration by events as the sport of trail running grows. The document sets out both “redline” boundaries, which are “musts” for events, and recommendations. If events do not abide by
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Big Picture – What’s Wrong with Fast Fashion
If, like me, you went to college in the early 2000s in the US, you may have spent more than a few Saturdays at Forever 21 picking out the perfect outfit for a party. But did you think anything of it when you wore that outfit one time and then dumped it because, let’s be
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Destroy Returned Clothing? Not in the EU You Won’t!
Have you ever ordered clothing online and, not knowing your size, just ordered two and returned the one that didn’t work? Some retailers, like Running Warehouse in the US, even encourage this practice by including a free return label with all purchases. Sounds great and, but for the back and forth transportation, not at all
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“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and the Myths We Learned in School
When I was a kid, we were taught to “reduce, reuse, recycle.” As I recall, we sang about it in school and made posters with pictures of the recycling arrows and smiling recycling bins. In fact, recycling was the only “R” that ever got any real attention. This is a huge problem. We now have
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There is No Climate Justice Without Racial Justice
Two years ago, I ran 4x4x48 (4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours) to raise money for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and to honor the all too many Black lives taken by police and vigilante violence in the United States. My community (locally and nationwide) came together at a time when meeting up
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Boston Marathon Race Report – Sustainability Edition (Part II)
Last week I took a big picture look into the Boston Marathon’s sustainability claims and actions. This week, I want to look at what participants can do when they are running races – especially large road races. I’ll structure my thoughts around the 4 pillars for “running without the footprint” that The Green Runners has
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Boston Marathon Race Report – Sustainability Edition (Part 1)
This is not your typical post-race report. Instead of talking about my own race in Boston, I want to address sustainability at the Boston Marathon. This is a long one – sorry. This is also just the the first part. Today, I’m looking big-picture at what the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) is doing, should be doing,
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This Shoe is Made from Recycled Bottles! But is that Really a Good Thing?
This shoe is made from recycled bottles! We see claims like this all the time on plastic clothes and shoes (yes, our clothes and shoes are made of plastic), but what does it mean? Does it really make our clothing better for the planet? Or is it just greenwashing? The Brooks Ghost 15 claims to
The Green Ostrich 