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Author: Adam Bratton Read Time: 2 mins  Admiration, love and advocacy for Mother Earth can be seen in all aspects of HPM. Ongoing environmental giving, cup free events, adopt-a-stream and adopt-a-highway, sustainable merch, annual advocacy memberships and beyond. I, and by extension, HPM is madly in love with our planet. (*See the full list of HPM's environmental initiatives and efforts below ... I'm biased, but it's super impressive!) Unfortunately, it’s not all Good Vibes and High Fives in HPM-land. There’s also a lot of hate in my beating human heart. Specifically, a hate for safety pins. Yes, those quintessential packet pick-up little pieces of trash! Here’s why I hate them, and better yet, what HPM is doing about it! To be fair, like anything else, safety pins have a time and a place. I always take my trusty safety pin with me on adventures … they weigh nothing and take up zero space but can be a trip saver for blister popping, blown shoelace fixing, broken zipper pulling or whatever other McGuyver style situation you may find yourself in. BUT … I’ve been very outspoken about the fundamental issues I have with mass producing something that is briefly used and then tossed in the trash to live in our environment forever (Yes, this issue goes welllll beyond safety pins). HPM is also undoubtedly rooted in the running industry but OUR industry uses over 100 million safety pins a year according to most reports … Yikes! I obviously have no clue how many of those 100 million safety pins might be reused over time, but I’d bet big money that it is very, very few. This leads to my longstanding hatred for safety pins. Technically, it’s not the safety pin itself (as mentioned above, I’ve found a decade long adventure pal in my trusty safety pin) rather the lack of thought that goes into the manufacturing, distribution, use, and then immediate disposal. So here’s the deal … effective immediately, Human Powered Movement will no longer provide free safety pins at HPM events. What does this mean for HPM events moving forward?
That’s it. Pretty simple. Safety Pins Suck and we're done handing them out so you can just toss them in the trash at the end of the event! We’re asking you to join us in our efforts and our thought process. Snag a bib securing alternative mentioned above and avoid safety pins all together from here on out. Take this festering hatred of safety pins to other events as well. Ask them to implement more sustainable initiatives into their races. Include suggestions (or even the link to this Journal) in post-race surveys. Be a proactive part of a more logical approach to OUR industry. We aren’t delusional to think that our efforts, stance, or new safety pin policy is going to influence the largest races in the world to follow our lead, but we sure as hell are going to continue to use our platform to encourage everyone to be more conscious of our environmental impacts in our daily lives.
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 Journal - Safety Pins Suck!Comments are closed.
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