With the looming threat of global climate change, many consumers are looking for ways to reduce the carbon footprint made by their every day lives. Earth-conscious consumers can now enlist the aid of their smartphones to help them go green. The following Android and iPhone applications are just a few of the many available to make the journey to a better planet a little easier.
Seafood Watch
The free Seafood Watch application gives users the option to sort seafood by sustainability rankings. “Super Green,” “Best Choice,” “Good Alternative” and “Avoid” clearly denote which seafood is safe for consumers and the ocean alike. Additionally, Seafood Watch features a glossary off seafood terms, recipes and seafood news. Users can also share locations of restaurants serving sustainable seafood through an interactive map feature.
Locavore
This free application allows you to locate the nearest farmer’s market or farm. You can search by location or by specific produce item, making Locavore a great tool to help produce consumers stay local, organic, and green. Recipes and produce information are included in Locavore’s offerings, and these can be shared with the touch of a button with friends and family.
GoodGuide
Have you ever been stranded in the grocery store trying to determine whether a product is healthy, green and ethically produced? Put away your moral dilemma with GoodGuide. Free and functional, GoodGuide features a barcode scanner that allows users to find information on specific grocery items right in the aisle. Thousands of food items are featured in GoodGuide’s database, allowing shoppers to be confident in their purchases.
Fooducate
Fooducate operates in a manner similar to GoodGuide. Scan or manually enter the barcode numbers of your purchases with your mobile phone and find out their grade. Like a mark on a report card, the A, B, C or D grade alerts shoppers to the value of a food. After scanning, a brief description of the ingredients along with any warnings are displayed. Fooducate will make a suggestion for healthy alternatives to foods with low grades. The app is offered for free with advertisement support, or for $2.99 without ads.
Go Green
Going green is about making lifestyle changes. It is a process of learning and reevaluating the choices you make every day. For the newly green, tips from those who have been living earth-friendly lives for years is very helpful. Go Green is a free mobile phone application that offers a new green tip every time you visit. You can track your environmental friendliness factor with a green status that grows as you learn how to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
Green Outlet
Green Outlet is a $2.99 application for iTunes users. It attempts to calculate your electric bill and carbon footprint based on how often you use the appliances in your home. After you input an estimation of hours of use each day, the smartphone app goes to work, illustrating how much each appliance costs each month in energy costs. Green Outlet also warns users when they exceed the recommended carbon limits, and tells how to obtain carbon offsets.
Chloe Parker is the chief news editor at MobilePhones.org.uk. Compare prices on your favorite mobile phones and stay informed with our News section.