Want To Help Save The World? Go Plogging!

What is plogging, you ask?

It’s a fitness craze that started in Sweden and is spreading across Europe and through North America. Plogging has spread globally as a way to combine exercise and community service.

It's a combination of two words: jogging and the Swedish phrase for pick up, ‘plocka upp’. Created by Erik Ahlström in 2016, plogging is an eco-friendly exercise through which people pick up trash while jogging or brisk walking outside. You can also “plog” while walking or hiking.  It spread through word of mouth, and in 2017, the #plogging hashtag started showing up on social media.  The rest is history.

Plogging is also exercise.

Plogging is a great outdoor workout!  It not only involves jogging, but also bending, lunging, squatting and reaching.  And it, according to Swedish fitness app, Lifesum.  A half-hour of jogging plus picking up trash will burn 288 calories for the average person, compared with the 235 burned by jogging alone.  A brisk walk will expend about 120.  Organizations all across the US are using plogging for both the benefits of exercise, and to raise awareness about plastic and other types of pollution.

YOU are the change.

Grab a plastic bag and gloves and pick up those empty water bottles, wrappers and boxes.  Do you find it gross to pick up other people’s garbage?  It is gross!  But do you know what’s even more gross? The fact that it’s sitting there in the first place.  And YOU can be the person who takes responsibility for it and places it in the garbage, where it belongs. 

It only takes one person to make a difference. Think your efforts will be too miniscule to count towards anything?  Wrong!  No effort is too small.  A group of 10 to 15 people picking up litter for an hour can fill a whole pickup truck!  How big do you want to think?  If you bring your friends with you and pick up any garbage you see on an hour long walk/run, you’ll be doing something awesome for the Earth, enjoying the spring weather AND giving your body exercise it craves.

An inspiring story...

Just look at Edgar McGregor, who spent 589 consecutive days picking up litter during the pandemic in Los Angeles’ Eaton Canyon.  Rain or shine, he picked up garbage and posted his progress on social media until he swept the park clean.  Now, he’s turned his focus to new parks and has become an inspiration for his more than 17,000 followers.  He encourages them to go on pickup expeditions of their own and reposts their photos shared under the hashtag #EarthCleanUp.  "There is nothing more satisfying than seeing brand new animals return to your park after months of cleaning up. I highly encourage anyone with any spare time to give this mission a shot. Your parks need you," he told NPR.

Pollution statistics can make us feel overwhelmed. Every year, we produce 300 million tons of plastic and around 8.8 million tons of it get dumped in the oceans, threatening countless animals, many of which are on the verge of extinction as a result. If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s now estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.  But we can throw our water bottle into the recycling instead of the trash.  We can try to use fewer plastic bags to wrap things, in favor of reusable bags.  We can try to reuse things instead of replacing them.  We can plant trees.  And we can go plogging! 

Climate activist Greta Thunberg said, "My message to young people who want to have an impact on the world is to be creative," Thunberg said.   "There's so incredibly much you can do and do not underestimate yourself."  Real change will start with people like you!  Why not be an inspiring example for others to follow?