5 Apps to Green Your Travel

Mobile devices are our constant companions, especially when traveling far from home. But smartphones and tablets can do more than entertain us on long flights. Our friends at EcoSalon recommend these five must-download apps to help you save money, time and energy while on the road.

Traveling is stressful, which is funny, because we’re often trying to get away from the everyday obligations that stress us out! Whether it’s a solo business trip or a spontaneous road trip, traveling requires the seamless coordination of many variables. Between flight times, packing lists, hotel reservations, rental cars and that nagging need to check our email, it’s no wonder we often dread travel rather than looking forward to it.

This doesn’t have to be the case, though. Assembling a low-stress, efficient trip can be as easy as picking up your smartphone. We’re surrounded by gadgets that are supposed to make our lives easier, but sometimes they need a little help. Here are five free or low-cost mobile apps that will help you plan and execute your next adventure with just the touch of a button.

Ask Mr. Green: What's the Best Oil Company?

Hey Mr. Green, 

What is the greenest oil company?

—Elizabeth, in La Mesa, California

It’s mighty tough to rate oil companies because of all the different ways that they can mess up the environment, and they are by nature more oil-slick brown than ecotopian green. Even their discussions of messes and methods have to be considered. For example, in ranking of oil behemoths, the environmental watchdog Greenopia looks at environmental reporting as well as five other factors: greenhouse gas emissions; production efficiency; oil spill efficiency; pursuit of alternative fuels, and stance on climate change. BP slid from first to fourth in their ratings mainly because of the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Greenopia’s highest green ratings go to Sunoco, Shell, and Hess, in that order, with Valero and Citgo at the bottom of the barrel. Before Deepwater blew, BP also got top marks from Sierra because of its work on alternative energy and its openness about global warming at a time when the drill-babies at Exxon were lobbying against action on global warming and were funding think tanks that denied its existence. BP also slipped on its oil slick in Sierra's ratings.

Crowd-Sourced App Rates Walkability of Streets

The free Web- and Android-friendly Walkonomics app ostensibly scores streets in eight categories — including how pretty, how steep, how dangerous, and even whether a sidewalk exists — based on open data from governments and ratings by app users.

Essentially, though, Walkonomics’s mobile, crowd-sourced cartography recognizes walking as a means and an end.

The streets between our Point As and Bs make up small stories written as we go, where wearing high heels or holding hands with a toddler, not just distance, can inform the journey. Tourists might look for the easily navigable streets; for joggers, streets with crosswalks; for everyone, streets with restaurants, parks, or stores.

15 Resolutions You Can Cross Off Your List Today

The New Year is here, and what better way to celebrate than by doing some good! Whether you made resolutions or not, the start of a new year is a clean slate. You may not know what the next 12 months have in store, but you can guarantee that you jump-started 2013 on a positive note by accomplishing any (or all!) of the following eco-actions.

1. Keep the TV off. It's the first week of the New Year, do you really want to waste it sitting in front of the television? We thought not. You could get so much done today if you spend less time watching reruns — and you could cut down electricity usage too. 

2. Make dinner tonight. Why waste the gas and money to go out for dinner, when you can make a nice, hot meal right at home? Go with local, organic ingredients to step it up a notch. Not only will you be saving money, and help out the local economy, you'll have leftovers for later. 

3. Take a shorter shower. In general, it'd be good to cut back on excess water usage. You can install low-flow showerheads and fix leaky faucets for other inexpensive and easy conservation moves, but if you shave a minute or two off of your shower today that's a step in the right direction. Do that for a whole month and you could save 150 gallons of water and be one step closer to being a Water Sentinel. 

Limited-Edition PUBLIC bikes: Order Now and Save 10%

Limited time left to order! Order by December 25, 2012 for delivery in June 2013.

Make a statement with the unique, limited-edition, never-before-offered, custom color, soon-to-be-unavailable-forever SIERRA CLUB-themed bike. Show your eco-pride with your ride!

PUBLIC is a purveyor of European-style street bicycles in several styles. The new Sierra Club bikes will be offered in PUBLIC's C7 (step-through) and V7 (diamond) frames, in two sizes, and with rear rack included. Custom colored in bright grass-green, these bikes will feature the Sierra Club logo in white on the rear fender and head tube, and the Sierra Club slogan (Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet) on both sides of the down tube. Click here for more specifics and to order the Sierra Club Bike.

App Obsession: Commute Greener!

Whether you live in the spacious, outlying suburbs of Los Angeles or find yourself squeezed in between briefcases and sports coats during rush hour in Manhattan, there's no doubt that every one of us leaves some type of carbon footprint as we travel from home to work. Perhaps the most common is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the vehicles we drive and the taxis we take. The question is -- how much? We should definitely be conscious of the decisions we make during our commute and how it affects our planet. And with the Commute Greener! app, now we can. But smartphone users beware -- this app isn't only for vehicle or phone owners. Whether you utilize public transportation systems, walk, or ride your bike to and from work or school, this application, which is also available on the web, not only gives you an assessment of how green you are, but how you can continuously reduce your carbon footprint and encourage others to participate in the cause.

Ideal and convenient for spreading awareness about how our everyday decisions affect the earth, Commute Greener is a free application that you can download onto your phone as well as sign up for on the web. After creating an account complete with username and password, Commute Greener helps you track and reduce your carbon footprint in the following ways.

Ask Mr. Green: Will Biodiesel Fuel the Future?

Hey Mr. Green,

Why is biodiesel neglected? So many people don’t have any concept of it!  Why don’t you do an information blitz on this subject?

 —Linda, Coral Springs, Florida

I'm not so sure biodiesel is all that neglected. If I did an information blitz on it, I'd remind its boosters that biodiesel is no magic elixir for a clean-energy, safe-climate future. Biodiesel could be a small part of our energy portfolio, if we were willing to intercept more oil and grease and divert it to fuel tanks before it reached our fast-food-crammed guts. And it’s certainly worthwhile to retrieve used kitchen oil and grease to run your car, as long as you don’t think you’re saving the world by gorging on Big Macs and avalanches of french fries to supply the raw, or, um, cooked material. 

Save 10% on PUBLIC Bikes

What's not to like about bicycles? They're emission-free, stylish, and great exercise! And now, Sierra Club has partnered with PUBLIC Bikes to offer members a discounted ride.

PUBLIC is a purveyor of European-style street bicycles in several styles. The new Sierra Club bikes will be offered in PUBLIC's C7 (step-through) and V7 (diamond) frames, in two sizes, and with rear rack included. Colored in Sierra green, these bikes will have the Sierra Club logo in white on the rear fender, and the Sierra Club slogan (Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet) along the side. Click here for more specifics on the Sierra Club Bike.

The Sierra Club bicycles will be offered at 10% off the usual price, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated back to the Sierra Club.

This is a limited-time offer, with bike orders placed before November 18th delivered in May, and orders placed between November 18th and December 25th delivered in June. The bicycles can be shipped "ready to ride" anywhere in the continental U.S.

To learn about other discounts, check out the Sierra Club member benefits page.

--Rachael Monosson / Image courtesy of PUBLIC Bikes.

Have a Car-Free Day

Have you ever thought about what it would be like if we all lived a car-free or a car-light lifestyle? Stanford University estimates that you could keep approximately 19 pounds of CO2 emissions out of the air for each gallon of gas that goes unused. That's right folks, it might be time to ditch that car and strap on those walking shoes for your urban adventuring. Where will you go and how will you get there? We'll leave the planning and plotting up to you, but here are some suggestions to get you moving.

Three ways to get around:

1.) Hoof it. No, we don't mean riding on horseback (although you could...). Grab a pair of your most comfortable shoes and walk. This may be the most labor-intensive way of getting around, but it's also the cheapest and there are really no additional requirement. Going for a hike would be a great way to explore this option, hook up with your closest Sierra Outings Chapter for a list of upcoming hiking adventures near you or head to a festival or farmers' market.

2.) Bike, board, skate, or scoot. Channel the good ol' days of wheeled transport before getting your driver's license. Not only is this a fun way to get around, it's faster than walking and can be more adventurous, too.  Bike NYC has a great bike-friendly event listing. Don't own a bike? Rent one for the day! Larger cities such as Washington D.C. sometimes offer discounted bike rentals, so search your local  bike rental shop for some deals.

Need a Charging Station for Your Electric Car?

Electric car owners often complain that there is nowhere to charge their emissions-free vehicles. For times where you just can't get back to your garage in time to charge your electric car, ChargePoint Network helps you find charging stations near you. All you have to do is type in your current location and how far you can drive. 

No charging stations in your area? Ask your hometown for solar fuel stations for plug-in vehicles! These solar fuel stations create green jobs on all levels, from design, to installation, to maintenance. When these solar fuel stations aren't charging your car, they're feeding clean energy back into the grid. 

READ MORE: 

Hey Mr. Green: Don't Electric Cars Guzzle Coal Power?

Running on Empty: Cars That Never Need Gas

What Should Electric Cars Sound Like?

--By Laura Hayden/ image courtesy of iStockphoto/wellphoto