Earth Hero: Climate Change 9+

Wherever you are on your climate journey—disinterest, dread, nihilism, rage, optimism, obsession—this app is going to be a great tool for you. One night, I downloaded a bunch of zero-waste or climate-action-type apps (I'm in the "obsession" phase of my journey, you see), and this app is the only one I still use. And I use it regularly. First, it gives you a very rough estimate of your carbon footprint—prepare to be shocked. Hi, it's me, I'm the problem, it's me. Then it gives you categories of "actions" you can take to reduce your footprint, rated from easy to challenging, with the ability to set goals with deadlines in case you can't do it all right now, as much as you might want to. And the app has just the right amount of gamification—it's fun to browse and tap and make lists and such, but behind every compelling button or image is a hard-hitting list of tips, with links to credible resources and organizations doing the really hard work, like advancing policy, or innovating climate tech. And with every "action" you "achieve" you see your big ugly embarrassing carbon footprint go down just a little bit more. It's addictive, in the very best way.

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for joining up to address climate change and improve lives. Let's get to work to improve our one and only Earth. :-)

I’m so happy to see sustainability enter the tech world through great apps like this🥰 I’ve deeply cared about environmental issues for at least a few years now, and I’ve recently gained a new sense of hope discovering the recent advancements made in digitalizing climate education. For some periods of time I’ve felt like I was carrying the weight of the world’s problems and guilt over how small the magnitude of my best efforts ultimately always were. But now seeing how much the small online community that fostered my education years ago has multiplied, and strengthened, and continued to stand resilient, is inspiring. Apps like Earth Hero give me the invaluable gift of community. It’s so much easier to maintain strength in my personal fight for climate action when I am able to see all the other people fighting that same fight with me. Getting to have the positive reinforcement drawn from a wealth of tips and information at your fingertips, plus encouragement from people who care about the same values, is really what we need and I love it.

Thank you for the encouraging words - we are an all-volunteer team and greatly appreciate positive reviews like this. If you have any suggestions for us on how to improve the app even further, please don't hesitate to contact us through our website.

I love this app. Though I was already doing a great many of the suggested actions, I was able to reduce my footprint much more. It helped me feel empowered and clear on my climate change impact. I love the graphics and interface. I’ve recommended this app. My only disappointment is that they do not mention peatlands conservation and going peat-free in the garden. Peatlands store enormous amounts of carbon —more than all the worlds forests—and release it when disturbed. The greenwashing out there can be confusing. There is a large movement in the UK to go peat-free. I submitted a proposal for this and did a great deal of research, and even wrote in again many months later. It has never been added as an action a year or more later, and I’ve become saddened by this. In general, new actions don’t seem to get added very often.

Many of the actions also seem urban-, youth- and able-body oriented. That’s ok, but those just don’t apply.

Thanks for the kind words and feedback. We will get that peat-free action into the app. More to come!