We often hear about how humans are negatively impacting the planet. With deforestation, trash in the ocean, and rising CO2 levels, it can be difficult to know what we can do to help. While it may seem like one person can’t make a change, there are lots of small things you can do to offset your carbon footprint, starting with getting the right apps on your phone.
By using one of these seven smartphone apps, you can get started on making improvements in your daily life and reducing your carbon footprint.
1. Ecosia
Ecosia is a search engine and browser that works as a great alternative to Google or Safari. Like DuckDuckGo, Ecosia is a private browser that doesn’t save your data or sell your browsing history.
Ecosia does make its money through advertising—as most search engine providers do. But Ecosia uses all of its profits to fight climate change, with 80 percent going towards planting trees around the world. Trees get planted in areas where deforestation is a major issue, like in the Amazon.
If you’re looking for a browser that keeps your information private and helps you reduce your carbon footprint, consider using Ecosia when you search the web.
Download: Ecosia for iOS | Android (Free)
2. JouleBug
JouleBug is an app designed to keep you and your friends accountable for lowering your carbon footprint. JouleBug takes complicated problems in our environment and breaks them down into simple tasks that you and your friends can complete.
Users simply download JouleBug and complete the challenges assigned to them. When presented with a task, you view a simple instruction video and are shown how your action can impact the world around you. You can do this alongside friends.
For accountability, you get awards and trophies when you complete each task and you can compete with those in your circle. You also generate a feed when you join and those in your feed can share accomplishments and their challenges.
Download: JouleBug for iOS | Android (Free)
3. Forest
Forest is an app that helps you stay focused on tasks. It’s frequently ranked as one of the top productivity apps in the App Store. Forest is simple to use, just log in and plant a seed. Once you plant a seed you can’t leave the app for a set amount of time, helping you stay focused on work.
Once the time is up, you would have grown a virtual tree and added it to your collection. If you can’t stay focused and you leave the app, your tree will wither. This keeps you away from social media and other distracting apps.
The best part about Forest is that it plants real trees around the world as well, meaning the more you use the app, the more real trees get planted. Over time, you can reduce your carbon footprint by helping real trees get planted.
Staying productive and helping fight deforestation has never been easier with Forest.
Download: Forest for iOS | Android ($1.99, in-app purchases available)
4. Earth Hero
For those interested in tracking their carbon footprint, consider using Earth Hero. Earth Hero helps you calculate your carbon footprint based on your daily habits. Seeing how much we impact the environment with the carbon footprint calculator can help hold us accountable.
As time goes on, you can work on lowering your score by doing tasks and offsetting your carbon output. Some users have even found ways to become carbon neutral.
Earth Hero also gives you tasks to help you take action on climate change and features access to a global community of like-minded people looking to make a difference.
Download: Earth Hero for iOS | Android (Free)
5. Buycott
Buycott is an app increasing in popularity every day; it’s been featured on CNN, NBC, FOX, and more.
Buycott is a barcode scanner that gives you details about a product before you purchase it. It lets you know the values of a company and, in many instances, tells you what that company is doing to help reduce the impact of its products on our climate. If you don’t support the social missions of a company, or if it doesn’t have a mission, you can skip the purchase.
It also works to help companies to learn how their values and actions are affecting the purchase decisions of consumers. With so many users sending their opinions through Buycott, real change is starting to take place and companies can be incentivized to reduce carbon output.
Download: Buycott for iOS | Android ($1.99)
6. TreeCard
Powered by Ecosia, the private search engine that plants trees, TreeCard plants trees every time you swipe its debit card. By charging a merchant fee for purchases, you don’t pay anything and the profits go directly to planting trees all around the world.
There are no hidden or inactivity fees and you can pause the card at any time. You can also get cashback at select retailers. TreeCard isn’t a bank of its own but connects to another fee-free bank account through Sutton Bank. You can easily transfer money to this account to make purchases and use it full-time, as it is FDIC insured.
TreeCard is not only a great way to help fight deforestation, but its wooden debit card is made from recycled materials, and the plastic in the card is made from recycled bottles.
Download: TreeCard for iOS | Android (Free)
7. Aspiration
Aspiration is the future of banking. By focusing on social causes, Aspiration users can rest assured, knowing their bank funds aren’t used to fund fossil fuel companies, private prisons, or the manufacturing of weapons.
Aspiration offers a fee-free checking and savings account where you can plant a tree with every swipe of your debit card. The Aspiration savings account also earns up to five percent interest annually, which is over 80 times the national average.
If you’re looking to entirely offset your carbon footprint, apply for the Aspiration ZERO credit card. This card requires good credit to apply but using it once a day can offset one person’s entire carbon footprint, meaning you will be carbon neutral right away.
From that point on, any positive changes you make to the environment can offset the carbon footprint of another person. ZERO card users also get one percent cashback on all purchases. Not only are you rescuing your carbon footprint, but you are saving money in the process.
By signing up for Aspiration, you are also eligible to earn a $300 bonus if you spend $3000 within the first 30 days, making it even more enticing to switch over.
Download: Aspiration for iOS | Android (Free)
You Can Make a Difference
While it seems like one person can’t make a difference with so much environmental destruction going on, that is no reason not to try. Many of us frequently use smartphones, and by making simple changes to our technology habits we can reduce our carbon footprint and even become carbon neutral.
If we all work to do this, we can improve the planet around us. Thankfully, there’s an app for that.