"A thneed is a fine something that all people need!" A quote from the book, The Lorax by Dr. Suess in which the Once-ler encourages people to buy a thneed, a product he has made from chopping down the truffula trees. By the way the movie is coming out next year with Danny Devito as the Lorax. Click here to watch the trailer. But yes, my iphone is a thneed. Something I don't really need. As humans, we are going to have an effect on the environment but do we have to have a huge impact? I think not. I always encourage kids and adults to make small changes in their lives that together will add up to make a difference. Therefore, I will use my iphone for good! So here is my list of helpful green iphone apps. Let me know if you know of others I should check out!
1. GoodGuide. It is very hard to be an informed consumer and buy healthful as well as environmentally friendly products. I always read the backs of labels and inspect the ingredient list but I am often surprised at how often companies will fool you. GoodGuide, with a database of over 120,000 products makes it easy to find safe, healthy, green and ethical products. It has a barcode scanner for easy access to the info! Tonight at the grocery store I scanned the herbal detergent in the organic section and then Purex Natural Elements detergent and guess which one had a better rating? Purex!!
2. Twitter. Yes that sounds funny but twitter has so much information in one quick place. Here are some of my recent green favorites to follow: @huffpostgreen @inhabitat @grist @helprecycle_com @water @care2 - and of course @naimajeannette!
3. Locavore. This app tells you what fruits and vegetables are in season and for how much longer in your area. It also lists the farmers markets. The more we support local farmers, the more all the food items they list will be available to buy. For a crazy challenge, try just eating food items from within 150 miles of your area.
4. Seafood Watch. Do you like seafood? This easy to navigate app will warn you about what seafood to stay away from and what seafood is harvested in a sustainable manor and ok to consume. Lately at my grocery store there has not been any seafood on the "green" list. Availability must have something to do with seasonality as well so make sure to keep up with the app. The general rule I use with seafood is stay away from farmed anything from Asia. I also used the app in the tuna aisle today!
5. Treehugger. For the ultimate in environmental info download this app. It keeps you updated with environmental news around the world, recipes for sustainable food, energy efficiency tips and so much more. There are also Podcasts from Treehugger radio! They have guests from all over the world on green everything (architecture, green tv, green fashion, etc). The app also can give you local info on where to recycle all kinds of products!
So download the apps and get to it! They are FREE so you have nothing to lose. Just remember you have them! The apps work on the iphone 3G and I think they have equivalent droid apps.
ALSO - you do not have to have a smart phone to enjoy all of these tools. They all have websites that you can visit as well!
PS: The iphone 4S has an awesome camera! You should be on your toes for my next blog too!
Here is a pic tease for my next blog. Any guesses where this is?
Thneeds!
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