Myrtle Beach meets Run For One Planet
Pro-Earth Strides at Chabad: Runners teach kids conservation tenets
–Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait ran into just the right crowd Friday morning at Chabad Academy in Myrtle Beach.
They saw at least a dozen welcome signs with messages such as “Save electricity,” “Close the taps” and “Save water, wash quicker – 100% reusable poster.”
Seven months into their Run for One Planet campaign, a jog across their native Canada and around the U.S., Hill and Tait spoke to students outside about everyday things anyone can do to be more environmentally friendly.
With more than 5,700 miles logged on their 11,000-mile journey, the two are on pace to complete in May. Hill and Tait on Friday engaged an audience of about 50 students in kindergarten through ninth grade.
Hill and Tait asked everyone to commit to at least one method of making a difference in consumption and recycling. The runners brought their own top 10 list from which to choose, their Action Challenge.
One group of youngsters chose to start using their own bottles, which they can refill all week long, instead of plastic water bottles.
Hill said a water bottle would last 1,000 years in a landfill, so 100 less bottles used by the class adds up to 100,000 years.
Principal Diana Blue opted to turn off her car, to avert idling.
“I never let my car run,” she said.
An actor and seven-time Ironman competitor, Hill used the voice he gives Ed on Cartoon Network’s “Ed, Edd and Eddy” series, adding many laughs to the children’s smiles. He and Tait took turns discussing potential effects from steps to reduce garbage and save energy.
Tait, who speaks professionally, said purchasing food closer to home, from local merchants, saves gasoline for the seller and buyer.
Hill said that when shopping, bringing bags to the store for carrying goods home means there is less chance for that plastic to blow into the ocean and harm marine life.
“Dolphins won’t start thinking they’re toys,” he said. “Bags never go anywhere. They’re kind of here forever.”
Tait ran around, stopping at points around a school picnic shelter to re-create the vastness of their route as Hill narrated notable stops. Each day, they run two marathons, about 52½ miles.
Since their kickoff with the Vancouver Marathon, they’ve encountered two mudslides in the Rocky Mountains, had six hours added to an 18-hour ferry ride between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and celebrated their six-month milestone in Times Square.
The Chabad students ran their own lap together behind the school as Hill and Tait concluded their presentation.
Shlomie Naparstek, a seventh-grader from Myrtle Beach, ran backward for the home stretch to the picnic shelter, to the amusement of schoolmates and teachers alike.
He said he appreciated how Hill and Tait have committed time to repeat their message at many schools and make an impression on youth.
“It’s a nice thing to save the planet,” Shlomie said.
(View the original article here.)