Smartphones are a great addition to our personal and professional lives, even when it comes to choosing conscious living. You may be wondering how technology and sustainability could possibly go together. Various applications now come with the aim of helping you contribute towards creating a positive impact on the environment. Have you ever considered using online apps to explore sustainable living?
Take a look at these 7 pro-sustainability apps that caught our attention:
1. Forest
Forest helps you stay focused and plant real trees. Through the app, users can set a time limit and plant a tree of their choice. The tree you plant grows while you focus but will wither away if you exit the app before the set time. Eventually, you will own a forest full of trees. Forest partners with tree-planting organizations and take up planting real trees every time a user spends virtual coins for the same. You can be productive and help plant another tree at the same time- interesting, isn’t it?
2. Recycle.Green
Through Recycle.Green, you can sell your waste to buy more products. With an aim to create a more circular economy, the app lets you avail products and services with waste as a form of currency. All products are also delivered using sustainable packaging.
3. BlaBlaCar
One of the most favoured apps for carpooling in India, BlaBlaCar is economically and ecologically friendly, simplifying the process of finding safe and experienced drivers to help you carpool and reduce traffic. It is actively used in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Carpooling helps reduce emissions and thus improves air quality. It’s time we reconsider our travel choices and think green.
4. JouleBug
Making sustainable living simple and fascinating, this app attempts to create a competitive, playful space where users try to lower their environmental impact. JouleBug helps you measure your sustainability credit by completing basic tasks. You simply need to buzz for every good action that you take in real life. Each action will also show you the impact you have made with it. There are also various challenges that you can participate in.
5. Google Keep
You can avoid using post-its and planners if you begin scheduling events and preparing to-do lists on apps instead. Going digital when it comes to note-taking is more convenient and reduces carbon emissions. This app lets you access your content from any device when logged in. I personally find apps such as Google Keep and Google Calendar more convenient especially when I need to travel without the need to carry a physical planner.
6. OLX
Secondhand shopping is now made easy with apps such as OLX that help customers find pre-loved items at great prices. Be it electronics or furniture, you can also choose to resell old items instead of discarding them in the bin. This helps increase the lifespan of products and reduces the burden on landfills.
7. My Plastic Diary
This app requires basic information such as the number of people you shop for and your expected target plastic consumption. Users need to record every plastic purchase that they make, ranging from bottles, tubs, wrapping, film, cutlery, masks and so on. My Plastic Diary gives you a plastic score according to the item weight and its level of harm. It also provides you with a daily, weekly and monthly plastic consumption limit based on your target.
Although I have featured only 7 apps, there are tons of other options that may interest you. Be it an eco-friendly search engine that lets your every search contribute to planting more trees or an app that lets you discover how ethically manufactured a product is with the help of a quick bar code scan- your options are endless. Technology can play a great role in our sustainable choices today and making the best of such opportunities is what we ought to do for the betterment of our planet.
Start your sustainable journey with The Good Route where you can discover ethical brands and inspire you on your journey towards conscious living.
Written by, Angelica Cardoza
Great Article. very impressive.