What weighs 300 tons, devours massive
amounts of krill, and can help stave off climate change? The 3rd Whale
of course. While this iPhone app won’t deplete your invertebrate stock, it will make
environmentally-conscious decisions a lot easier. The eco-minded company, 3rdWhale,
was started back in April of 2008 by a sustainable entrepreneurship professor
on Earth Day. Ever since they’ve been promoting the ‘green’ lifestyle and now
they’re trying to attract interest in another popular movement, the technophile
crowd, with a free app that puts sustainable shopping at your fingertips.
At its most basic, the 3rdWhale app for the
iPhone and iPod Touch searches out green businesses. In doing so the app makes
use of your position to find the nearest applicable retailer. So far the
listings span right across the U.S. and Canada (see
below for a full list of cities). If you happen to be road-tripping and looking
for somewhere eco-friendly to eat the app even provides handy directions. In
order to narrow the field of selection, 3rdWhale is divided into 4 distinct
categories: Food, Ecotourism, Retail, and Spa/Fitness.
The repository of eco-friendly businesses
is 20,000 strong and growing. In order to make the list a company must prove to
3rdWhale that they meet the minimum requirements. This translate into a ‘whale
rating’ of one whale. These initial requirements are based on the analysis of
green products and services directories. From then on the rating system is
community driven, with the zenith of the scale being, you guessed it, 3 whales.
Given that the app is freely available in the App Store,
it’s a no brainer to add to your iPhone, even if it’s just to impress your
friends with how conscientious you are.
There’s also an Andorid version in the
works.
3rdWhale is Live in the following cities:
Austin, Baltimore, Boston/Cambridge, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver/Boulder, Detroit/Ann Arbor, Houston, LA, Minneapolis/St.
Paul, New Haven, New York, Newark, Oakland, Philadelphia, Phoenix/Mesa, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa/Napa/Mill Valley, Seattle, Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Washington, DC
