In becoming a member of The Green Runners, you are committing to making a Pledge.

What is a Pledge?

A Pledge is you setting a goal to change a behaviour of yours, big or small. While, yes, becoming a Green Runner and sending us money is amazing and helps us do more work, we believe in pledging to make personal changes in our lives.

Why Pledging?

We are in a climate emergency, that is irrefutable and – if you are here – you are probably keen to do something about it. When we started The Green Runners, it was born out of a desire to support and encourage runners to make personal changes in their lives to help us take the carbon footprint out of running.

While we believe there needs to be system and legislative change to really tackle climate and biodiversity breakdown head-on, we still think individuals have a place in fighting for a fitter planet. That’s why we ask our members to make a Pledge.

Our Pillars

Pledges are built around our four Pillars: How we travel, how we eat, how we kit up, how we speak out. We chose these because we felt they are the most relevant to runners, and where we can all make a real difference. We ask you to make your Pledge based on these Pillars. Of course, you might have a great idea for a Pledge outside the Pillars – hooray! But this is a great starting point.

Making your Pledge

Here are some easy steps to help you make your Pledge when you sign up as a Green Runner.

This is absolutely essential: your Pledge must be action-based. You must be willing to take genuine action to make personal change, otherwise nothing really changes at all.

After that, your Pledge is your own. It isn’t anyone else’s. It can be big or small, but it has to be personal.

Consider the Pillars

When writing your Pledge, think about the Four Pillars we have mentioned: How you travel, how you eat, how you kit up, how you speak out. Here are a few ideas of Pledges you could make under those Pillars:

How you travel

• Only take public transport when commuting
• Ride your bike or run journey under 3 miles
• No flying, or a specific reduction in your flying (be that air miles or number of flights)

How you eat

• Eat a vegan or vegetarian diet
• Reducing your red meat consumption
• Eliminating plastic waste from your running snacks

How you kit up

• Look into brands’ sustainability policies and only purchase from reputable ones
• Only buy second-hand
• Repair and reuse

How you speak out

• Volunteer with your local conservation group (or even The Green Runners!)
• Go on demonstrations for causes you care about
• Write to local politicians or volunteer to campaign on behalf of those who stand up for the environment

Make your Pledge SMART

If you are still stuck, remember in high school you were taught about making SMART goals? Well, you could make your Pledge along the same lines! Here are some suggestions:

1. Specific

When thinking about your Pledge, make it specific to something you will do. For instance, “No flights this year” or “One return flight this year for racing”, or “Eat red meat once per week”. Saying “Fly less” is quite vague which leads us on to…

2. Measurable

As runners, we like stats – kilometres, miles, meters, pace. The same goes for your Green Runners Pledge, it needs to be measurable. Saying “Fly less” is not very measurable. What is “less”? Or “volunteer more”? Instead, change your Pledge to “Reduce my return flights from four to two this year”, or “volunteer with my local conservation group once per month”.

That’s more like it!

3. Achievable

When you sign up for a marathon, do you go in with a goal of breaking two hours? Unlikely. You go in with an achievable goal. If you eat meat every day, perhaps going cold turkey (pun intended) is not going to be easy. Try “Cut my meat intake to three meals per week” is a great way to do it.

4. Relevant

As a Green Runner, we hope your Pledge will be related to your environmental impact and how you can reduce it or fight for better. If you are interested in politics or campaigning, perhaps your Green Runners Pledge will be to join a local campaign group, or write to your local politician on issues that matter to you.

5. Time-based

Your Green Runners membership is an annual contribution to our work. When it comes time for you to renew, we ask you to also renew your Pledge, meaning there is an annual checkpoint for you to work towards. With any luck, you will have achieved your Pledge, and you can look to making a new one next year.

We ask our members to share their Pledges on social media, encouraging others to make their Pledge and help us fight for a fitter planet. You can see in the image at the top of the page how others have done this. You can, too!

We are always keen to read your stories, so email us or message us on social media if you’d like to feature your Pledge-spiration on our website, just like the ones below!