Love Running Trails? 5 Earth Day Activities to Make a Difference

Love running trails? In this article, we'll show you 5 earth day activities you can do all year long to protect the places you run and make a difference for the planet, one stride at a time.
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🌍April 22 is Earth Day, and now is always the best time to take action to protect the outdoors.
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Wondering how to get started? 
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Here's what you need to know...

The climate crisis can feel overwhelming, irreversible and downright depressing.
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▶️Just watch “The Frozen North” episode of “The Americas,” narrated by Tom Hanks and currently streaming on NBC.
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In one scene, a starving polar bear succumbs to eating another polar bear carcass due to food shortage. 

• It’s a desperate move, as their primary hunting grounds, ice, is melting because of global warming. 
• They cannot reach their main food source, seals, without sea ice. 
• It’s enough to bring tears to the eyes. At least it did for me and my young sons, one of whom aspires to work in animal conservation one day. 

⛔However, maybe watching the plight of these far-north ursine is too distant to feel a personal connection.
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After all, most of us have never gone for a run in:

• The Arctic reaches of Canada’s Hudson Bay or...
• Norway, where polar bears are now traveling into villages like Svalbard seeking sustenance. 

🏃‍♀️‍➡️So, runners, how do we bring the climate emergency home and make those personal connections with its effects upon our lives?
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Check out these 5 running-related Earth Day activities to honor the environment that you can do all year.

If you’re new to the climate activism scene, ultrarunners Zoe Rom and Tina Muir’s 2024 book Becoming a Sustainable Runner: A Guide to Running for Life, Community, and Planet is a good place to start.

📖Becoming a Sustainable Runner is a comprehensive manual for becoming your most environmentally conscious runner-self. 

• From where to recycle gel wrappers to ways to reduce your carbon footprint through thoughtful consumerism, they give real-life, relatable examples of how to get in the activism game without sacrificing your sanity or your running. 
• 🔊Listen to Becoming a Sustainable Runner on Audio.

📕Another book, We Can’t Run Away From This: Racing to Improve Running’s Footprint in Our Climate Emergency by ultrarunner Damien Hall, encourages us to:

• Examine how running impacts the environment, and...
• Explores simple changes to make toward fighting the climate emergency.

For more climate-centered reading, visit Freetrail, a trail running company whose mission is to make positive impacts through media, events and training. Some of Freetrail’s educational resources include: 

• A Climate Action archives
• The Unofficial Environmental Book Club, a reading list for nature-lovers, with some old classics, non-fiction and even a fiction section that includes the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Richard Powers, The Overstory, one of my all-time favorite books

(and your favorite running locations)

Number two in this list expounds upon number one. 

• “Get Educated” focuses mostly on books and timeless articles...
• “Stay Current” centers on timely, here-and-now issues in the news. 

🔊Listening to or reading local, national and international news concerning the environment can offer guidance on what needs immediate attention.
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Here’s a list of a few current, national, running and outdoor recreation- specific news published in popular outdoor media as well as the New York Times in 2025: 

• How Will Trump’s Second Term Impact Public Lands, Outdoor Rec, and the Environment?
• How Trump Cuts Could Affect Your Summer Hiking Trip (or running trip)
• How Federal Layoffs Threaten Trail Races and Public Lands

As a little girl growing up on the border of a state park, I spent most of my time outside, falling in love with the beauty, adventure, independence and peace that nature provided.
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It was spending so much time outside that drove me to fill a large black trash bag with garbage littering the river banks, trails, and streams every year on April 22, Earth Day.
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🌍In fact, Earth Day became my favorite day of the year.

• At age 13, I published a pleading story in a local paper imploring tourists and locals alike to keep our park clean through the principles of, unbeknownst to me at the time, Leave No Trace.
• In high school, I gave a persuasive speech on the importance of recycling and not littering in a public speaking class. 

It’s also a stepping stone toward more activism. 
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Once you get your hands on that first piece of garbage, it can spur the desire to do more...

• Call it the gateway drug of environmentalism. 

Public lands entities often rely on volunteers for trail work, cleanups and advocacy events. So, make a list of:

• Local state parks
• Wild areas
• National parks
• National forests
• All the places you love to run and recreate...
• And reach out about how to get involved.

Find out what entity protects your local:

• Streams
• Rivers
• Lakes
• Bays, and...
• Oceans. 

Our running routes and trails often course along water, and water, just like land, needs our attention, too.
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💧One place to start is Waterkeeper Alliance, with its Riverkeepers and Bay Keepers, located throughout the world. 

• Volunteer opportunities include getting trained to test water for safe swimming (who doesn’t love a post-run plunge?) and drinking and river cleanups via boat.
• Find your Waterkeeper here.

Even more, invite running friends on volunteer adventures!

• It’s a great way to spend time together outside of running and to meet people with similar cares and interests. 

Many means of expressing environmental concerns exist. Here are some ways to speak out and act:
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👉Attend public comment meetings and public hearings... 

• To show support for the groups and individuals fighting for environmental causes (like citizens and outdoor enthusiasts did for the Swallow Falls Bridge project), mentioned in the photo above.

👉Take action and write lawmakers...

• Via the Outdoor Alliance, which “unites the voices of outdoor enthusiasts to conserve public lands.”

👉Make a pledge with The Green Runners. 

• The Four Pillars ask us to reflect upon our travel, eating and apparel habits and potentially change those for the collective good of  the earth and to commit to speaking out.

👉Attend or donate to Footprints Running...

• A camp that provides mentorship and development toward climate action projects. 
• Footprints was founded by ultrarunner Dakota Jones, who rode his bike 683 miles to compete in the 2023 Western States 100 Endurance Run in order to raise money for the organization and spread the word about reducing our carbon footprint as athletes.

👉Participate in campaigns with environmental organizations...

• Like this one with the Sierra Club or the recent “Hands Off!” demonstrations, where participants rallied against many policies, including federal cutbacks, which affect public lands.

☑️Sign online pledges like these ones with The Nature Conservancy
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☑️Call legislators, made easy with the 5 Calls app. At the time of this writing, the environmental active topics listed for calling include:
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☑️Demand the Unfreezing of FEMA Funds and Restore BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities).
☑️Protect Our National Forests from Unregulated Logging .
☑️Defend Our National Parks.
☑️Protect the Mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Sometimes the climate crisis can feel like too much to tackle.
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Other times, we may feel like hypocrites. 

• 👟I do, with six pairs of running shoes on rotation at all times and an overstuffed dresser drawer dedicated to running shorts. 
• 🌍But the point of climate activism is not perfectionism, so the feeling is mostly fleeting. 

We cannot expect ourselves or each other to advance to Greta Thunberg- level environmentalism, or even to bike hundreds of miles to the start line of races.
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If we do, kudos. If we don’t, there is still a lot we can contribute.
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Because it's in the collective attempt of trying our best, making small changes, that together add up to a big, positive difference, expanding awareness and inspiring civic service within our local communities and beyond.
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🏃‍♀️‍➡️Often, we have to try and fail to see what works for us. 

• For example, I’ve tried vegetarianism and veganism many times throughout my life because of animal food production’s harmful effects on the planet, only to suffer health consequences. 
• I now eat local red meat about three times a week, and cheese and eggs every day, unapologetically. 

🏃‍♀️‍➡️Instead I take other actions, like the things listed above, plus:

• Reselling or donating running shoes when I’m done with them
• Running from my house to the trails rather than driving (as much as possible)
• Avoiding excessive travel to races, especially via airplane 
• Using reusable grocery bags 
• Choosing sustainable materials for the house my husband and I recently built with our own hands; we also built up instead of out to reduce our footprint

But have we constructed a compost bin yet? Not yet. Again, not perfect, but doing our best.
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Just as running gives meaning to our lives, so too can fighting for the health of our land and water, whether it’s via:

• Education
• Advocacy
• Speaking out
• Thoughtful consumerism
• Using our running platforms to spread the word, or all of the above. 

If not for ourselves, then for our future generations.
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So, on this Earth Day, what will you do to show love to the earth, which supports so many incredible running journeys?
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🔊Enjoy this Earth Day Running Playlist!