Of snakes and sceptics
Apps are the new mobile encyclopedias for greening your mind
Skeptical Science Free in the Google Play and App stores
Soirée scientists — every party has them: the sort of dinner guest who has read an article on climate change and now knows enough about the subject to dismiss it as just hot air. By outlining climate sceptics’ most wellworn arguments, this app helps you tackle such debates. Choose an argument from the menu, and see how peer-reviewed science refutes it. Putting dinner-party bores in their place has never been such fun (or so easy). Heard a stupid new argument? Add it to the regularly updated “Skeptical Science” database, and help the world fight ignorance.
GT Buddy
Free in the Google Play and App stores
Featuring Gautrain schedules for trains and buses, Google maps, real-time notifications of trains and a fare calculator, GT Buddy is a poster child for greener public transport. Recognised as the best independent developer at the MTN Business App of the Year Awards, it’s streaks ahead of the official Gautrain app, and makes factoring public transport into your life just that little bit easier.
e-Snakes of Southern Africa: Lite
Free in the Google Play and App stores
A vital companion to bushwhackers, this interactive version of Johan Marais’s Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa covers 20 indigenous snakes, and includes photographs, distribution maps and species descriptions. Use the “smart search” to identify a species, and the “compare” feature to compare two species on the same screen. The full version is available online from R159, and covers all 151 indigenous species in southern Africa.
A Glass of Water
Free; in the App Store only Drive smart, save fuel. Using the image of a glass of water, this app calculates how green your driving habits are — based on criteria such as speed, distance and fuel consumption. The more water you spill, the less efficient your performance. You can also analyse your results on a map and see how you compare to others. Sassi app Free in the Google Play and App stores From abalone to Zebra gamefish, the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative’s mobile app helps you make ocean-friendly food choices. Green means you can “tuck in with a clear conscience”; orange means “think twice because of associated environmental impacts” and red means “avoid altogether”.
Africa Live
Free in the Google Play and App stores
Winner of Africa’s best travel app at the E-Tourism Africa Summit Awards, Africa Live reveals which animals were spotted near you in the past 24 hours, thanks to data recorded by more than 22 000 other users. This app also contributes to conservation. Dr Tali Hoffman of Mammal MAP, the first atlas on Africa’s mammals, attributes “around half” of the project’s records to the app.
Left over Swap
Free; in the App Store only
This app encourages “leftover givers or takers” to pass on their unfinished plate of food. “Fire up Left over Swap, view the leftovers around you, and arrange for pickup or delivery.” According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the carbon footprint of wasted food in the world is over three billion tons, so it makes sense to trade food while it’s still good.
GoodGuide
Free in the Google Play and App Stores
An app for ethical consumers by the University of California, Berkeley, GoodGuide has scored 170 000 consumer products using social, health and environmental criteria. Its scanner does not work on SA barcodes, but the app still offers a useful manual search.
WWF Rhino Raid Around R10 in the Google Play and App Stores
Help Rad the Rhino dodge hand grenades and automatic rifle fire in a bid to escape the evil poachers and Mr Big, the syndicate kingpin. A great way to while away time in queues — and contribute to rhino conservation. Proceeds go to WWF-SA’s African Rhino Programme.
Into the future
We’re looking forward to the day we can control our home appliances via a Wi-Fienabled app. International versions already exist, so it’s a matter of time before such an app hits SA shores and allows us to monitor home-energy use from just about anywhere.