If the promise of endorphins aren’t enough to get you moving, how about knowing the health of the planet can be helped by you going for a run? Across the world, ultrarunners, sprinters and joggers are dedicating some of their runs to looking after the environment, proving that exercise can be a form of activism.
The rise of vegetarianism and veganism in recent years has made it easier than ever to follow a plant-based diet. Tofu, tempeh and a whole bunch of milks that didn’t come from a cow are readily available at supermarkets, and even the most far-flung pubs and restaurants usually have at least one non-meat eating option.
With plant eaters being spoilt for choice these days, spare a thought for the original vegetarians, who couldn’t chuck a tub of Tofutti into their shopping basket or fry up a dish of mock meats.
Laura Youngson is not the type of person to sit back and seethe. Annoyed that a women’s soccer team didn’t receive funding while the men’s team did, Laura established the Equal Playing Field initiative to promote women in sport. “That’s where the idea came from, to do something so outrageous and so ridiculously difficult that people would think, ‘you did that? that’s crazy!’,” she says. And as far as challenges go, playing soccer at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is up there.
Australia’s animal shelters are brimming, with hundreds of thousands of companion animals euthanised every year. Rescue groups are inundated, relying on volunteer foster carers to open their homes and hearts to animals in need.
