Christmas Trees and the Environment

Not a topic that I've often pondered, but if I did, I would have thought artificial trees were better. I mean, cutting down a tree just seems bad for the environment. However, I would be wrong. As it turns out, real Christmas tress are 60% better for the environment than artificial trees, at least through 7 years. However, if you can't buy a real tree (or even if you can), try using LED Christmas lights because they use a whole lot less power.

Green Racing

So, we've got exercise and better nutritional education out of the way... now on to the 3rd pillar of E3- environmental awareness. I came across an article talking about environmentally-friendly races. Turns out, there's a whole council dedicated to making races green! There are some obvious things, like using water bottles instead of cups and purchasing food, etc. from local vendors, but there were a lot of things that I didn't consider. For example, the B-tags (that I love) are actually not all that environmentally "good" because you can't recycle them due to the whole tag being integrated into the bib (oh dang). 

As you might imagine, it is difficult to put on a race without impacting the environment somehow (but here's a list of races that do a pretty good job). So, they set up a system where you can "bank" "good deeds credits" (ok, I'm paraphrasing here) by donating clothes to homeless shelters, cleaning up a local trail, recycling plastic bottles, etc. Anyways, the article is a pretty good read. Here are some links for environmentally-conscious athletic organizations:

• Athletes for a Fit Planet
• "Go Green" Program 
• Go Green Road Race
• Council for Responsible Sport