Blog 2 part 1

http://www.taiga.net/whitehorsegreenguide/download-gg-app
http://www2.wspa.com/lifestyles/2011/jun/10/smartphone-app-helps-you-go-green-ar-1956021/
http://thesmartphoneappreview.com/2011/06/17/eco-mania-iphone-review/
http://www.sfd.org.uk/Latest/Details/recycle_app

One thinks of smartphones, and the association of environmental friendliness does not spring to mind. People most often keep their phones for only a few short years (and that is being generous) and then blithely toss them into municipal landfill waste where toxic chemicals and heavy metals leak out into the soil, while the plastic components float around (literally if it finds its way to the ocean) in the ecosystem for another few million years. However, within the millions of apps that can be downloaded for just a dollar or less, it was inevitable that some would start to emerge that have green utilities.

A few simple searches reveal, as can be seen in the preceding links, many useful smartphone apps that can actually help lighten the environmental footprint humans are scourging into the planet. For instance, one app can monitor your driving habits, and let you know what habits you make in your regular commuting that might be modified to help with gasoline consumption: things like braking and accelerating too hard or too often or driving at speeds that are less optimal for mpg's. Another app developed by Nestle helps people recycle by scanning the barcodes on packaging and identifying how it can be properly sorted thereby eliminating waste. Another app even makes recycling sorting into a mini-game that can be good for rectifying the general ignorance the populace possesses in its ability to sort broad spectrum recycling.

Also, most smart phones now possess kindle-type functions built in, or with an e-reader app that may be downloaded as well. In the e-book paperless revolution, hope exists to reduce the millions of acres of forest ripped down every year for the paper industry. Other apps are sure to exist. Android and iPhone users need only download and they can immediately give themselves a self-satisfied feeling that they are helping our species out of the horrific plight we're in rather than the usual distraction-by-gadgetry based deference-is-bliss policy they are more accustomed to living by. The big question is, will they actually use them, or will they just sit on their phone...like so many unread e-books...just to make them look good?