make everyday earth day with these apps
by eva otto
Check out these awesome eco-apps that everyone can start using to impact their local environment for the better.
- Get there Pronto with a new cycle sharing system with 500 bikes and 50 stations across Seattle. Pronto bikes can be rented from and then returned to any station in the system, creating an efficient network with many possible points and combinations of departure and arrival.
- Hop on the bus, Gus. Unlike Uber, OneBusAway provides access to real-time arrival and schedule information for public transportation vehicles operated in Seattle such as King County Metro, Sound Transit, Pierce Transit, Intercity Transit, Community Transit, and Washington State Ferries. While it will not prevent aforementioned vehicles from being tardy, this app will let tell you, “when the next one is coming.”
- Whet your appetite. Buy, eat and enjoy local produce. Janelle Maiocco (formerly of Farmstr) launched Barn2Door to “help farmers connect with consumers interested in buying local food.” Or, be outstanding in the field with your friends at Seattle Tilth. Sign up for a class, get a weekly box full of fresh, delicious produce June-October, enjoy 100% local, ecologically grown.
- Power-down, mediate, and recharge your body in your private “EMF-reduced” sleeping sanctuary — your bedroom. Isola Homes’ Vida row home bedrooms are on a mission to minimize the ubiquitous buzz of our wired world with wrapped electrical wiring and the removal of overhead lighting.
- Be Rain Wise. It rains buckets here in Seattle. On a good night, 300 gallons of water can be dumped onto your house before hitting the streets. Collectively that translates into millions of gallons of untreated sewage and stormwater pouring into the city’s waterways, threatening human and aquatic health. Then, the sun comes out and people start watering their lawn and gardens! Whaa? Yes, it’s an unnecessary waste. A rain water collection barrel is a killer app in this situation. The City of Seattle offers rebates homes in critical areas. Visit the RainWise site here.
