JouleBug for Android

I hate this app. I used to love it, but after winning one of their challenges I emailed them to receive my prize (which the instructions say to do) and they never sent my prize or got in touch with me.

I really like seeing an estimated tally of how much of a difference buzzed actions save over time. The challenges can be fun too. It’s great to see others and the ideas they come up with. I definitely recommend! I do have one suggestion: can the developers update the book and movie options? There are so many great books and films that are educational and inspiring about the environment and sustainability. Please add more to the lists for each action, thanks!

I LOVE that people are making lifestyle changes that benefit the environment. Unfortunately, the actions I see people doing the most often are superficial things that even if EVERYBODY did, we would still be facing some of the same problems with the environment that we’re facing now. So, I have some ideas. 1)However, many of these things require you to buy something, which can be very counter productive (CO2 emissions from the gathering of materials, transportation of materials, labor- are these workers getting fair pay or are they children or slaves, no I’m not exaggerating- transportation to store, and so on). Will this item be used enough times that the waste and emissions it saves will be greater than what was needed to be created? Or will it be throw away when it goes out of style? 2) Also, I would love to see things like choosing to repurpose or reuse something rather than throwing it away when it breaks and buying another new thing. Or, choosing to buy something used, such as clothes, furniture, and appliances, rather than new. This actually has quite a large impact 3) I would like to see that some of the harder, and more impactful things give more points than simply filling up you hydro flask (e.g. patching holes in the ceiling/ window, creating greywater recycling system, buying local produce, choosing second hand, setting up a compost, etc). I would like this because many people are getting points for things they would do anyways (which isn’t a bad thing!), but the people who are putting more time and effort are getting the same, if not less, points than those who are buzzing nothing except their reusable water bottle, silverware (that they probably bought new for really cheap online, I wonder who made that for you?), and riding the bus to school. I’m not saying that these are bad things to do (except the unconscious consumerism), but should these people who are only doing the same thing over and over again be getting more points than people who are branching out and trying new things. Not to diss anyone but..... 4) I know some people would not use this, but personally, I would love to be able to track my negative impact as well to get a perspective of net impact, if it’s positive or negative. These would be things like buying something new that was probably cheaper than it should’ve been (as opposed to second hand or fair trade), tracking waste that I produce, every time I charge my phone/computer/ etc since that uses lots of energy, adding gas to my car, eating meat (measures by type and ounces/ grams), cheese, or eggs, forgetting my reusable bag/ cup/ silverware/ etc.. A little bit like having your own earth overshoot day 5) I think it would be cool if there was a section that taught about conscious consumerism, activism, the waste cycle, from production to landfill, fair trade, organic farming practices, palm oil and deforestation, renewable energy, fossil fuels, and the list goes on! ******I believe that educating people is the biggest impact that ANY of us can have!!!****** Anyways, this was a veeeeeeeerrrrrry long review, but I hope the developers see this and continue to improve the app. This is a GREAT app idea, but has room for improvement, just like all of us!!!

I love this app, but as other people have said: -I wish we could delete unintentional buzzes. I’ve accidentally buzzed before without adding the picture, and couldn’t just buzz it again and add it because that wouldn’t be fair. -I wish there were more activities, because there actually aren’t that many specific to my lifestyle, and although the custom sustainable action is nice, i wish there were more activities with the specific numbers of waste/water/co2 saving specific to it -I wish we could favorite activities we do a lot, and categorize ones that are impossible for us somewhere else so they don’t clog up all the others.

When I first opened it, I answered some preliminary questions, and then it wouldn’t load no matter how many times I closed out of the app and opened it up or used different wi-fi.