Earth Day: three apps for a greener lifestyle

Our smartphone can be a useful tool in adopting a more eco-friendly lifestyle. — AFP Relaxnews

Since it accompanies us everywhere and has become an everyday tool, our smartphone can also help us adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Take up “green” challenges with friends, contribute to the protection of the oceans, start composting... Discover three applications to download for upping your green involvement on Earth Day and everyday.

Clean swell

The idea behind this app from Ocean Conservancy is to contribute to cleaner oceans and seas by becoming part of a global community. Every time you pick up some trash from the beach, take a picture and upload it to the app so that it becomes part of an international database, allowing researchers and authorities a more accurate picture of the situation in order to develop solutions.

Users can learn facts about the ocean ecosystem and earn badges for their efforts.

Ma petite Planète

What better way to rev up your ecological involvement than by setting yourself challenges? That’s the concept behind Ma Petite Planète, a game that consists in taking up challenges as a team.

Available online or directly via the app, it allows two teams composed of between six and 24 players to go head to head.

The objective is to score as many points as possible over three weeks, by taking up a whole series of challenges (plant a tree in your own garden or that of someone you know, discover a local product, go to work by bike, etc).

Players can create their own league or join one that is already established. And no cheating – each challenge must be validated by publishing a photo on the application.

ShareWaste

Created in 2019 by a couple from Sydney, ShareWaste was started to address a personal observation that many urban dwellers who try to go greener may recognise: composting is no easy task when you live in an apartment.

To remedy this, Eli Bramborova and Tomas Brambora imagined an app that would allow you to connect with a neighbour who already practices composting and who would be ready to accept additional waste, says the application.

A map allows you to geo-locate the composting points closest to your home. – AFP Relaxnews