At a time when the growing threat to the earth’s ecosystem is already leaving at its wake unprecedented humanitarian crisis across the world, it was imperative to birth an initiative capable of immersing the world with a culture that encourages a conscious and responsible interaction with the environment while simultaneously meeting desired human needs.
Sometime in 2016, Plogging was formally initiated in one of the most sustainable countries in the world, Sweden by Erik Ahlstrom. Plogging is a combination of jogging with picking up litter (PLOcka up + joGGING). As an organised activity, it spread to other countries in 2018. Plogging as a workout provides variation in body movements by adding bending, squatting and stretching to the main action of running.
Plogging Nigeria was launched on June 2nd, 2018 as part of the event to mark the 2018 World Environment Day, themed #BeatPlasticPollution at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. Instituted as a Club in the University, it is now attracting strong interest and similar establishments across campuses all over Nigeria.
Being the pioneer plogging group in Nigeria and West Africa at large, the club is proving to be the pacesetter in not only Africa but across the world as it currently boasts of over 1,200 members from its subsidiary clubs in Nigeria. The club encourages sustainable interaction with the environment while also embracing an active lifestyle that recognises the immense benefit of mental and physical fitness. For the club, it is imperative to inspire groups of committed children, students and youths alike taking responsible actions towards environmental protection and sustainability, especially addressing the negative effects of plastic pollution and indiscriminate waste disposal on the environment. To that end, we contribute to the actualisation of some key Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, which are:
Indeed, the Club continues to receive strong reviews and testimonials about its organised plogging episodes which successfully oscillates between a fun and impact-driven exercises with high sense of fulfilment for the young volunteers whose commitment to environment sustainability is matched with maintaining a healthy body and soul. The club demonstrate this succinctly in its motto – We Keep Fit to Keep Clean! Individuals across different age groups and occupational distributions are strongly encouraged to join and support in a bid to ensure effective collaborative efforts in areas of environmental protection and sustainability.