iPhone Apps Turned Green

I always cringe at environmental paradoxs: using plastic bags at the farmers market, buying organic produce grown in Chile, taking showers twice as long because you have a low-flow shower head, the list goes on.  

But here's one that I found oddly appealing: Green iPhone Apps. Yes there are plenty of rare minerals inside my iPhone and it consumes a lot of energy to charge, but perhaps that can somewhat be canceled out by one of these 10 enviro-centered apps.

I haven't downloaded any yet, but these sound the most interesting:

greenMeter, $5.99

Here's an app to track your car's fuel and power usage characteristics and offer tips on how to save your wallet and the environment. Based on the gMeter vehicle performance app, greenMeter uses the device's internal accelerometer to measure forward acceleration, compute engine power, fuel economy, fuel cost, carbon footprint and oil (barrels) consumption.

Carbon Tracker, Free

This GPS-enabled carbon footprint application allows users to calculate their carbon footprint from daily commuting, business trips or vacations. Users can also create goals for maximum emissions in a month, then monitors progress. Great for individuals, universities and large companies looking to lighten their carbon footprint.

iLocavore, Free

A locavore is someone who strives to eat food grown and produced locally. There are many reasons why people choose to live a locavore or Locallectual lifestyle: concerns about food miles traveled and the associated increase in carbon footprint, freshness of locally sourced food and the choice to support family farms, craftsmen, independent retailers and eateries to stimulate the local and regional economy.

The iLocavore application supplies this information from the Locallectual.com database to find area producers, independent retailers featuring local and domestic goods, and restaurants featuring local foods based on your current location

See all 10 Green iPhone Apps here. Please share any other green apps or ways to use your phone with the environment in mind.