Maybe the title is a little highfalutin and pretentious however if you are reading it has caught your attention, so stay a little longer with me and listen.
We often refer to the world and nature as “our gymnasium,” and you know how much we care about their preservation. When we run or bike, we cannot help but feel a sense of peace for the beauty around us and gratitude for what, after all, we have received on loan. As such, it is right not only to treat it with care but, above all, to preserve it, respect it and, if possible, improve it so that we can return it to those who will come after us in an even better state. Yes, in other words we are also doing it for our children. And, for a few years now, for ourselves as well, because we are no longer so sure that even during our stay on planet Earth, things cannot get so bad that we, too, will be affected.
As you know never more than in recent times have we emphasized how important it is to develop awareness of the importance of conservation and respect for this planet. Now it is time to go to the next level, which is to do something active, even if it is in our very small way.
Never forget that even though we are alone and our behaviors may seem like drops in an ocean, this does not mean that they have no positive implications and perhaps even serve as an example to inspire others so that our single effort becomes that of 10, 100, 1000 like us in a short time.
The easiest and most intuitive way to be aware and contribute is to use your mobile phone-there are so many apps that can help you with this, and here I talk about a few. They are not apps that serve the runners, but they certainly serve humanity and our entire planet, to make it a slightly better place. How? One way is to waste as little as possible by recycling and not throwing away food, perhaps because you inadvertently let it expire.
The positive and attractive aspect of such an approach is that it really saves you a lot of money because it often involves new but expiring (food) or used products.
For simplicity I have divided the app families: food, used/recycled, active awareness.
Food
According to the Barilla Foundation we Italians waste about 2 percent of the food produced, for a total value 15 billion, or about 1 percent of national GDP. Seventy-nine percent of this waste occurs at the end of the supply chain, that is, in the household: in Italian households, the poor food planning, carelessness and carelessness with which we literally throw money away results in all this waste.
If this all sounds small to you, consider that globally one-third of the food produced is wasted. This means that one-third of the environmental impact required to produce it is totally unnecessary and can be avoided by consuming more consciously (i.e., not wasting). How to do it? With some apps, for example. Here they are!
Too Good To Go
Before it is an app, Too Good To Go (literally “Too Good To Throw Away”) is a site that connects those who work in the food supply chain and consumers: restaurants and delicatessens that need to dispose of food that is expiring or that they can no longer serve the next day and whose expenses they can at least recoup by selling it at a heavily discounted rate. The app allows you to see which restaurants or stores are participating in your area and what they offer. You can manage to find great discounted dishes and avoid waste at the same time!
MyFoody
Its purpose is to connect food outlets and consumers to dispose of surplus or expiring goods. Using the app, you can find out which supermarkets in your area offer discounts for expiring products and save significant amounts of money.
ThinkAbout
It is a portal that connects food producers with other companies to enable the disposal of processed or unprocessed food that cannot be placed on the market for various reasons, perhaps including aesthetics. Thus, it is not an app and does not involve the individual consumer but whole groups, for example, employees of a company who can purchase large batches of food at discounted prices in one go. The reason is, once again, ethical: resolving the transaction in one go reduces the waste associated with individual shipments, limiting the environmental impact. If you work in a company inquire or ask the managers if they join the project and use it: again you can get huge discounts and avoid waste (while doing good for the planet).
UBO – A Good Chance
This app allows you to learn about how to store food better, make great meals with vegetables or foods that are expiring, make a shopping list by choosing from the 500 products in the database, have an expiration schedule that saves you from having to throw away foods that are still good but forgotten in the refrigerator, and even reuse scraps. To really have zero impact.
OIL
Olio is an app that connects individual citizens (neighborhood-sized) who want to get rid of something and give it away for free. Therefore it works for both groceries but also for household items, even if only at the neighborhood level.
Used/recycled
I once heard a vegan say something apparently upsetting. He said, “If a leather jacket is used, I have no problem wearing it. That animal is already dead, it’s more absurd to throw it away.” There are the ethical scruples that make us choose not to buy a new leather jacket so as not to feed a market that we find unfair and to save the lives of many animals but there is no point in having them when a garment is used and, by buying it as such, we are in fact giving new meaning to the sacrifice of that animal.
The waste of clothing is not only about garments that involve animals but especially about the overproduction of things that we honestly do not need. Indeed, the manufacturing industry is globally one of the largest and most polluting industries. Giving new life to used garments is a conscious and responsible way to reduce one’s environmental impact. In this, too, many apps help us.
The second-hand market obviously involves not only clothes but applies to anything. What’s new is that for the past few years it has been made much smoother and more efficient by apps that connect sellers and buyers. Here are some of them.
Subito.it
This is the most famous and popular marketplace in Italy, and you can really find anything there. He needs no introduction, no doubt.
Depop
Depop is a site/app that allows people to sell used clothing and accessories by connecting sellers and individual buyers. Unlike Vestiaire Collective (which I discuss later), the cut of what you find there is more youthful/urban.
Vinted
Dedicated to buying and selling used clothing, Vinted has 37 million members across Europe and connects individual sellers with individual buyers of used clothing.
A positive aspect of this site/app is that it allows you to protect your purchase and have refund if what you receive is damaged or does not match the description.
Vestiaire Collective
It is the site where you can buy and sell designer clothes and accessories. Vestiaire Collective is responsible for connecting sellers and buyers and authenticating as original 100% of the items sold through its channels. Again, the transactions are secure and the purchase is protected. The products for sale (or those you decide to sell) are all very high category and include clothing, jewelry, watches, shoes and accessories.
Active Awareness
It is one thing to know that you have to be respectful of the environment, it is another to do something, actively, to conserve it. These apps/sites help you do something active, consciously.
Goodbag
As the name implies, “Goodbag” is a good bag that allows you to shop without using disposable bags and especially knowing that a tree has been planted for each one. You can buy them in their shop, and some models carry thought-provoking graphics, such as “20 grams less plastic in the oceans,” because their use (and reuse, especially) keeps you from using other types of shopping bags.
Good On You
The play on words used to name this app is particularly effective: “Good on you” both alludes to the famous “It looks good (on you)” and implies that it also does good for the planet. It is not a place to buy or sell clothes or food but rather a database that collects information on how ethical the largest companies making clothes or accessories are, basing judgment on three parameters: whether or not they use animals, how they treat those who work there, and whether they are environmentally friendly. Unfortunately, you anticipate many unpleasant surprises (but also a healthy awareness that will help you choose to reward the good ones, on your next purchase).
Greenity
This app helps you know and understand how the cosmetics and beauty products you use are made and whether they use harmful or eco-unfriendly substances.
Treedom
Treedom is an Italian startup that allows you to… plant a tree. Really, nothing could be simpler. Of course you don’t just plant it but you can follow its growth and most importantly you can choose from different species, different places in the world and what use you want it to be put to (food, medicine, research, etc.).
You make a difference
It may seem like small gestures, it may seem like what you and only you do is little, but just as even a single kilometer run is much more than no kilometer run, a single gesture and a little more awareness of how fragile and precious our planet is can make all the difference. Always.