The number of outdoor walks logged on Strava and Apple Health trebled in 2020

Mini Miracles Mini miracles of climate change are happening all over the UK. The Scottish Parliament, for example, passed the Community Empowerment Act, obliging local authorities to develop foodgrowing strategies, including identifying land that can be used by the community for growing vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers. A Bee Line – a green corridor of flowers planted to attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies – will extend 26km from Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire to Cathkin Braes Country Park, Glasgow, in time for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC Centre Glasgow 31 October – 12 November 2021. It’s one of many community projects developed by Grow 73, a charity working to increase biodiversity and help combat climate change at a local level.

BBC TV’s Countryfile has launched an ambitious two-year project called Plant Britain galvanizing everyone to get planting and help combat climate change, with the added benefits to our wellbeing and wildlife. Plantings to date total just over one million and caring for the environment could be seen as an altruistic way to burn calories. As further proof of the burgeoning interest in this area, it’s worth noting that three million new gardens were created during lockdown in the UK. London Biennale The potential for design to promote environmental and social change is the theme of the London Biennale which has temporarily rewilded the courtyard at Somerset House in London with 423 mature trees, to draw attention to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are part of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development. Also driving the agenda is Prince Charles, who’s a champion of the natural world, promoting environmental awareness and encouraging businesses to take action on climate change. Now he’s urging the world’s insurers to rise to the challenge and his Sustainable Markets Initiative Insurance Task Force at Lloyd’s of London is leading the industry towards greener goals. Like father, like son, Prince William and TV naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, have launched Earthshot which aims to find solutions to repair the planet by 2030. Five prizes will be awarded each year for the next ten years to provide at least 50 solutions to some of the world’s environmental problems. The five goals are: to protect and restore nature; to clean our air; to revive our oceans; to build a waste-free world and to fix our climate. These five goals and more will be on the agenda at COP26 in Glasgow, which could be the showcase for Britain’s nascent zeroemissions sports and fitness industry.

©Cybertrek 2021 Issue 8 2021

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/JACOB LUND

GLL, the largest charitable social enterprise in the UK, with over 58 million visitors across 270 leisure centres, employs 13,000 staff who are helping people improve their personal health. GLL achieved zero waste to landfill in 2019 and uses renewable energy from 51 sources, including 46 solar installations, 4 biomass boilers and an Air Source Heat Pump.

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