Happy Earth Day everyone! Today is the perfect opportunity to reflect on how our actions impact the earth and how to take steps to reduce our negative effects on nature. Now, I know not everyone is the type to go out and plant trees or pick up trash… and that’s okay! Today I have 3 apps that anyone can use to participate in Earth Day and do their part to help make the world a better place to live.

The saying “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” has long been the motto for earth-conscious living.  I have always found figuring out what can be recycled to be a bit tricky.  So, naturally, I found an app to solve this!  iRecycle is a handy free app for both iPhone and Android that lets users know what items can be recycled in their area. The app covers everything from electronics and automotive parts to everyday items like paper, plastic and household objects. Based on your location, the app will tell you what can be recycled.  Let’s say, for example, you have an old phone.  That certainly can’t normally be recycled with your paper or plastics, but the app will show you the nearest drop off location for old phones and give you contact information and even a map with turn by turn directions to get you there. If you can’t go immediately, iRecycle saves your search history so that you can easily find the information again when you have time to take action.

It is important to remember the world’s animals on Earth Day, and the WWF Together app is perfect for this. This app is a beautifully designed, interactive, and free (yay!) on both iPhone and Android.  Users of all ages can learn about the world’s most amazing animals and what modern problems are threatening each species’ way of life. By sharing the app with friends and family, a user can help raise awareness to protect these animals or even donate to help support WWF and its efforts to protect the world’s animals.

Once you take some time to learn about the world’s great animals, you want to take a break from eating so much meat with a vegetarian or vegan meal.  Great, this next app is for you!  Green Kitchen is a very user friendly app that lets you choose from over 100 different healthy recipes.  Each recipe has step by step cooking instructions that can be marked off, grocery lists that can be texted to someone and all recipes are easily searchable by meal type (snack, breakfast, lunch) or by diet (vegan, whole grain or gluten free). This app is $4.99 on iPhone, but the help it brings to meal planning is priceless.

I hope you all have a wonderful Earth Day and continue to do your part to keep our Earth healthy and beautiful!

Earth Day, featured, iRecycle, WWF Together

By Meredith Red

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