Welcome to Ethical Athlete. Again.
This is the blog of me, Jonathan Bean, a keen amateur runner and outdoor sports enthusiast.
It’s been around a little while, but I let it slide. My motivation dipped because I lost the joy of updating it as and when with things that interested me. I got bogged down chasing hits and playing the guest posting SEO game. But a little time away has rejuvenated my enthusiasm. To avoid making the same mistakes I’m not going to let the site get too serious. There’ll be articles with what I hope will be interesting opinions contained within them, but there will also be some lighter notes. After all, I love running and there is a reason for that. Hopefully I can share the love.
So welcome to Ethical Athlete revitalised. With a new emphasis on Running, Health, and Positivity.
I started this site last year because I had found it very difficult to combine my consumer habits as a runner, with my personal ethical and moral aspirations. I am not the mythical, perfect ethical athlete of this site’s title, rather the name is meant as a reminder of an ideal. In most areas of my life I ensure that I use public transport, eat organically, buy fair-trade and take care to reduce, reuse and recycle what I consume. This isn’t always possible, but I do try. The principal area where my principles become compromised is with regard to running. I wear clothes made out of petrochemicals by workers in sweatshops, I drive or fly to races, and I eat and drink products made out of artificial ingredients by multinational corporations. Like most people who run, I conduct online research before deciding what to buy or which races to enter and will read reviews from a variety of sources. Yet very few, if any, of these make reference to the socio-environmental impact of the products or services that they review.
So I started writing and editing articles, reviews and features on ways that the sporting consumer can spend their money and not compromise their principles. Healthy debate is welcomed and rather than tell people what to do, the intention is that this site will allow its readers to make their own, informed decisions.
I am realistic enough to recognise that there is no perfect way of doing things. In sport, as in life, every decision that is made is likely to have some negative impact. However, it is important to ensure that the negative effects are minimised, and the positive maximised.
As I am not an expert, the best way for me to do this is write about my own experiences. I’m also keen to highlight the positive benefits that participating in sport can bring, so will point out great things that I’ve seen elsewhere.
Armed with clear, detailed information it becomes easier for all of us to make decisions that will minimise our negative impact on our planet and society as much as it is practical for us to do so. Hopefully Ethical Athlete can help a little.
If you have any ideas, or article suggestions, or just want to know a little more about what I’m trying to achieve with Ethical Athlete, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Email ethicalathlete at gmail dot com
Follow us @EthicalAthlete
Join us at facebook.com/ethicalathlete
Get pinning at pinterest.com/ethicalathlete
Watch at youtube.com/user/ethicalathlete
Thanks for dropping by.
Jonathan Bean.
[Unless stated otherwise all opinions expressed are those of the author.]
