Green iPhone apps

Photo credit: Yoink

Not everyone has an iPhone or an iTouch, but if you do, you might not have realised that it can be quite helpful with your eco-friendly activities. At the moment, I’ve got 5 applications I use and enjoy that are better than the standard “get a green tip everyday” fluff. The bonus is that none of them rely on the iPhone – they have websites free for everyone to use if you like.

1. Yoink is an alternative to Freecycle, where you can give away things you don’t need and get free stuff too.  You can list anything that you want to give away, and if people want it they’ll contact you and arrange to pick it up. I came across Yoink because it’s made by some local Perth guys, although now it’s famous enough to have been mentioned on Treehugger.com and CNN in the USA. I’ve seen some good garden supplies on there, kids’ gear, and apparently someone is gave away an old car last week!

2. Shop Ethical is an Aussie guide to help you with your grocery shopping. It sorts items by the type of product (e.g. drinks, frozen food, snacks, etc) and then lets you know the environmental and social record of the company that makes it. It’s based on the excellent Ethical Consumer Guide, and I find it much handier to use my phone to look this stuff up than to keep a printed guide in my handbag.

3. Project Noah is a worldwide (although currently very American) project for people to record sightings of native plants and animals. You can use the website without owning an iPhone, but having it on your phone is very handy for quickly recording sightings with a photo. Or if you see an animal and aren’t sure what it is, you can check their Field Guide to see if anyone else has identified it already. The data can then be used by researchers helping to preserve biodiversity in the wild. I’m planning on a visit to Kings Park and other national parks to see if I can build up the Perth listings.

4. I also rely on iTT Perth, a handy listing of bus and train times from the Transperth database. It’s great for knowing if I’ve got time to dilly-dally on my way to the train station or if I should hurry up. I’m not sure if other capital cities have similar apps, if you do please let me know in the comments. Anything that makes public transport easier to use is a winner in my book.

5. For something a bit different, there’s the Skeptical Science app, which gives the facts on climate change from an Aussie scientist. It’s designed to help you in arguments with climate skeptics, but I’ve given that up as a hobby! I find the app is more useful for helping normal people understand what’s going on. They’re not interested in conspiracy theories, but ask me about the facts, so it’ll be handy to have good explanations to hand that they can look at.

There are a lot of dodgy iPhone apps out there, claiming to donate money to tree-planting or charging you a couple of bucks for the same lightbulb switching tips you can get anywhere. It’s good to see some people out there making really useful stuff, and even better to see some that are specifically Australian. Later in the week, I’ll tell you about the apps I’d like to see but haven’t found yet – maybe they’re out there already, or maybe someone needs to make them.