An app + software system that will revolutionize the way you think about money.

If you’ve been under the impression that your bank account balance is a rocky reality, prepare yourself for an epiphany: the numbers are even more meaningless if the dollars behind them are unemployed.

Even if you’ve got millions, those little zeros whispering sweet nothings to you ledger after ledger, might very well be aloft atop a bubble set to pop. Or maybe you’re one of the 42% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. Both camps, and everyone in between, could use You Need a Budget. YNAB for short.

Here are three examples of why you need YNAB:

#1: You own a car.

Cars are passive aggressive creatures that will blow a head gasket just as you’re about to pay off your Amex bill. You car knows you are about to pay off said bill because it heard you talking about it on your Bluetooth. Because it feels neglected (jealous even) it will drive over a nail, position its’ windshield under a falling object, attract vandals – it will stop at nothing to get you to notice how important it is. 

#2: The way some people are about pornography, you are about shoes.

Try as you may to prove that very silly and vapid stereotype popularized by those who shall remain nameless wrong, you really have quite the fetish. The higher the heel and pricier the tag, the more titillating the titillation. Avoiding retail outlets might curb your habit for now, but you know a relapse is right around the corner…on 5^th Avenue. 

#3: You live under a roof.

Renter, owner – it doesn’t matter. A bill to screw all other bills will arrive on your register thus mucking up your entire delicately orchestrated monthly money management schedule. You chose direct deposit, not a bad move per se. But you can’t do-si-do with the devil; the same holds true for ConEd. 

Discernible in the examples above are three financial poltergeists that spook the hell out of money goals month after month, and year after “just getting by” year.

1.) Lack of foresight (cars have nasty mean streaks, we know this).

2.) Playing peek-a-boo with a bank balance (just because Citibank.com says you can afford luxe foot attire does not mean you can).

3.) Lack of preparation (winter happens, as do heating bills).

YNAB is ostensibly designed to help users overcome the demons that haunt most human-prone people by using a methodology comprised of four rules.

Rule 1: Give Every Dollar a Job

YNAB says:

“Instead of deciding to buy something based on the big (or small) pile of money in your checking account balance, you’ll decide based on a category balance.”

This translates to: no more guilty dining experiences because you know you’ve got a mint sitting in your Restaurant category. The same goes for guilty shoe purchases. By playing peek-a-boo with your personal Shoe Fetish balance, when it’s time to walk away you’ll know to walk away.

Rule 2: Save for a Rainy Day

“There are no normal months…if you don’t plan for the high-expense months, you’ll be in a world of hurt.”

This is how your car wants you to feel: hurt, like a scorned lover. Put $20, $30, $50 or more each month into your Transportation: Repairs & Maintenance category and when the time comes for him to pull a power trip, guess who’s holding the clutch?

Rule 3: Roll With the Punches

“When you overspend in a budget category for the month, the software automatically takes what you overspent and deducts it off the top of next month’s money.”

This is ostensibly meant to end whatever binge/purge thing you’ve got going by taking the guilt out of budgeting.

Rule 4: Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

This is best illustrated with a graphic:

“Save enough money to go an entire month without touching your regular income. Then the next month, spend last month’s income while earning this month’s income.”

Net Worth

You might be thinking: this is all very Suzy Orman-ish and conceptually sound, but is YNAB applicable for those of us living outside of Oprah land?

In a word: absolutely. YNAB is definitely worth a go, especially since the company recently increased its free trial period from seven to thirty-four days. Putting rules one and two into effect alone will engender untold financial savvy and freedom. Rule four is an ideal that might take time to come to fruition, but doable. Rule three, in practice, can be downright confusing.

But the interface is friendly, and the rewards surprisingly immediate.

However, it is advisable to start clean at the beginning of the month even though the company anytime is as good a time as any. Far from inducing any aha! moments, a mid-pay-period start could result in untold confusion.

Available as an App for $4.99 and downloadable software for $60.

Word of warning: the app will not work if you don’t have the software, so you’re looking at an overall investment of $65.

A dozen plus ways to waste money on Apple gadgets this holiday season. 

What do you get for the Apple enthusiast who has it all? Somewhere to stick it. There are thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of ways to accomplish this as the dawning of the iPhone and iPad era have heralded an influx of inventors and entrepreneurs all competing for your iCash.

Some are truly ingenious, others not so much. Here are a dozen plus that are just straight up obnoxious.

The iHome iP4 Boombox is built to look like an old-school cassette-player of yesteryear, except it’s 2012. We get that the iGeneration’s most evangelical customers peaked when The Beastie Boys headlined Lollapalooza in 1994, but must they be so self-referential about it? It’s like talking to the Woodstock kids of the grunge generation.

Just what you ask is this?

Evidently, the DigiTech iPad Pedalboard is a “Programmable Pedalboard [that] sets a new standard for guitar signal processing by harnessing the power of the iPad.” It “unleashes” the power to create guitar effects “like never before.” Hendrix is shaking in his grave.

The iPhone Lens Dial was invented to further indenture you to your mobile telephone.

It’s a mountable photo-enhancing tool, kind of like a camera used to be. (Cameras you know are so two years ago.)

The iD91 is a dual alarm clock radio for your iPhone or iPad, which lets you charge your device (because only Luddites use their Apple issued chargers) and acts as an alarm clock. That’s neat. Need we mention that there’s a free app for that?

The following can be used as a gaming joystick or a form of birth control. I swear that thing looks like a plastic IUD.

For the Polio stricken iPad, the clunky TabGrip will get your device back on its feet.

It’s big, it’s bulky, and the CRT TV is the exact opposite of what your iPad is supposed to be.

The iTee and iDress were designed with “the digital lifestyle of Apple lovers in mind.” Although meant for wearing outside of the house, this kind of iFashion is on par with the Camouflage Snuggie.

Speaking of psychotic, check out the TV Hat, which also comes in camo. Great for Skyping, snuggling in with your iSpouse, watching online porn, and virtual gaming (please, skip ahead to the 1:30 mark).

Millions of people play Angry Birds, wherein players use a slingshot to fling birds at pigs. Given the average lifespan of a human being, we’re not sure why one would use up precious hours in this pursuit. Nor do we understand why one would dock their iPhone in one.

The Black Diamond promises “a hypnotic, swirling lightshow,” as evidenced by the scintillating video below. It’s like a modern day lava lamp, except it’s really lame. A few more caveats: to use it, you must first download the app and remove your protective case each and every time you care to charge your phone as the magic crystal ball requires it to be fully unsheathed.

The iPad is a great and wondrous thing, as is Velcro. The former, however, happens to be a $500 piece of very breakable technology that should never, ever be affixed to the ceiling, motorcycle or window on a rainy day with the latter.

The USB Typewriter costs $799, about $300 more than the iPad you can hook it up to. Why would you trick out your iPad with the USB typewriter?

The world may never know.

Image: Juicy Dog Couture, photojojo

The latest addition to the Urbandig guides, Eco Cool, offers a guide to sustainable interiors in L.A.

Everyone I know has an app these days, from my friend’s TubeTap (premise being that if London’s Tube makes you late, you can get your money back), to another’s guide to Budapest. Naturally, I have to share Urbandig’s newest addition to the app pack, an eco shop tour of Los Angeles called Eco Cool. It’s written and curated by our own Sofie Sausser, who pens the Shelter column Someday/Today.

The popular (and free!) app from Urbandig.com offers off the beaten path city, shopping and eating guides for San Francisco and Los Angeles, with plans to expand to New York, Portland, Austin, Chicago and DC in coming months. You can tap into happenings like beer crawls, street art walks, locavore tours and now eco-friendly shelter shops.

It’s hyper-localized, but stands apart from crowd-sourcing favorites like Yelp and foursquare because it’s curated by local bloggers, like Sausser. She’s a DIY fiend, so look for lots of thrift stores (you know, LA has the best ones) and green home showrooms like Croft House and RC Greenhome, both on La Brea, and Environment in Culver City.

Find it in the iTunes Store under “New and Noteworthy,” “Staff Favorites,” “What’s Hot,” and “New” in Travel.

Our latest obsession thanks to Foodspotting: taking food photos.

“Hold on, I need to take a picture.”

“Me too.”

That’s pretty much how last weekend went as two of us from the EcoSalon team tried to pack as much good food into one weekend as possible. In all honesty, I hate it when people have their cell phones on the table during a meal. It’s rude, and if you haven’t figured that out, you might want to consider a “manners in the digital age” class.

However, I have a love (verging on obsessive?) for food photos. All kinds, be they in a glossy magazine and taken with the kind of camera that I will most likely never own to pixelated camera photos. Hence the new-found obsession with Foodspotting.

We’ve been working on Foodspotting guides for a couple of months now, compiling lists of ours and our readers’ favorite hotspots. But not until this weekend did I really start playing around with the app. The short summary: If you’re a food lover, you need to be using it.

Yeah, sure, you feel a little silly about your new need to always document what you’re eating. Full disclosure: It’s good to put limits on yourself so your friends don’t stop inviting you out. But when it comes down to it, it’s fun, easy, inspires the food photographer and stylist in you and helps you find new food that you never knew existed.

So in honor of Foodspotting Friday today, here are some of our favorites from the week:

Sea Scallop Ceviche. Yes, we took this photo. But it was amazing.

Horcahata and Fish Taco. We’d take this for lunch any day.

Chocolate-Chile Cookie, Vanilla Ice Cream and Cajeta. What’s not to love? We’ll take two.

Hungry? There’s plenty more to explore over at Foodspotting. Try one of our guides to start with and then start exploring. Happy eating!

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: adactio, EcoSalon, justafoodie, Valentina Vitols

The saying “there’s an app for everything” has become part of our cultural vernacular, and while some apps serve great purposes and provide handy information, the one I’m referring to in this post should have never been created, as it reduces parenting to dismissive gadgetry. Sadly, now you can use your iPhone to monitor your baby’s “cry-it-out” sessions. Adding insult to injury (such as the possible ensuing brain damage that the cry-it-out method may cause a child), the app bears the blasé title: “Ciao Baby.” How can any parent think it’s okay to give their baby the kiss off in such an insensitive manner?

In case you’re not familiar with what letting a baby “cry-it-out” means, it is a sleep-training concept that was introduced by pediatrician Richard Ferber, in which babies between four to six months old must learn to self-soothe in order to fall asleep. This often takes hours upon hours of screaming, crying and hysteria that sometimes culminates in vomiting and convulsions and may affect a child’s psyche by producing “lifelong emotional scars” and abandonment issues.

And “Ciao Baby” can help you achieve all of the above! Since the CIO method means that parents must put their baby in their crib awake, and then periodically check back in on them after certain increments of time, patting their back but not picking them up or – god forbid cuddling or holding them, the Ciao Baby app times and logs a baby’s outbursts and keeps track of the “time until next settle.” Wow.

Renown pediatrician Dr. Sears advises against letting a baby cry-it-out, imploring parents to “consider baby’s cry as signaling a need – communication rather than manipulation.” For those of you reading this who think their babies only had to cry-it-out for a week before getting the picture, Dr. Sears suggests that they simply became apathetic, they didn’t learn what you were trying to teach them. What a great first lesson to teach a child about life: fight for your needs, and then give up, knowing the one person who is supposed to care for you has turned his or her back on you.

I am certain that there are many parents out there who would staunchly support the CIO method, and have successfully and guiltlessly let their babies “cry-it-out,” achieving the end result of a baby who slept through the night at any early age and is perfectly well-adjusted. But as an advocate of attachment parenting, I deplore this practice with every fiber of my being. It is fundamentally wrong and unnatural to let your child suffer in order to achieve a convenient end for yourself. I’ve known parents who have shut their baby away in their crib so they could enjoy a movie, dinner or a glass of wine in the other room “in peace,” yet their child is screaming bloody murder within earshot and they are unfazed. And if you aren’t hard-wired to respond to your child when he is in need, why bother having a child in the first place?

Proponents (parents who use) the CIO method will argue that if it’s practiced responsibly and done correctly, that letting your baby wail their lungs out and go ignored is perfectly fine. But these are just excuses to make a parent feel better about not tending to their child’s primal need to be held and comforted. Or, these excuses resemble regurgitated theories from doctors and books that parents advise for information as they stray away from what feels right for them instinctively.

What would the world become if we simply said “ciao” to those in need and timed their cries for help on our iPhones? I shudder to think anyone is buying this app to help them better monitor their neglect.

With billion of products on the market claiming to be organic or eco-friendly, shopping for sustainable products can be a hit-or-miss affair. GoodGuide, a free app for the iPhone, wants to be your shopping buddy and help you get your hands on products and do more than just pay lip service to environmental responsibility.

Next time you’re in the cosmetic aisle and can’t figure out the safest lipstick brand to buy, whip out your iPhone, fire up the GoodGuide app, and snap a picture of the barcode. You’ll get instant detailed info on the lipstick’s effect on health, the planet, and whether it’s produced in a socially responsible manner.

GoodGuide doesn’t just limit information to cosmetics – categories include Food, Household Cleaners, Personal Care, and Toys. In fact, there are more than 65,000 products in the app’s database, with more being added with every update.

GoodGuide is an incredibly handy app to have in your purse while shopping. Indeed, I’m disappointed that I couldn’t find similar ones for BlackBerry and Android mobile devices – if they exist, let me know in the comments. This is exactly the kind of information that’s great to have on the fly, especially if you encounter an unfamiliar or new product on the store shelf.

Until manufacturers put this kind of information on their packaging voluntarily, GoodGuide is a terrific way to figure out if the products your buying are in line with your goals for environmentally sustainable living.

I see ads all the time for green business cards at sites like Green Printer. What sets them apart?

Their little squares for doing business are printed on 100% recycled paper using soy and veggie zero-VOC inks with chemical-free plate processing and scuff-resistant, non-toxic aqueous coating. Some of the newbies are not even squares at all, but 3×3 disks for “making a unique impression.”

But what kind of impression are we making when we swap paper at a time we’re eschewing the over-foresting of our natural landscapes to produce the pulp, and envisioning a paper-less lifestyle? Perhaps trading information this way isn’t in the cards.

As the senior editor of an environmental blog, it can be awkward to produce a paper card for a new contact, despite the greener alternatives of jotting down my data on a piece of scratch paper or asking Daryl Hannah and Brad Pitt to program my number into their iPhones. I’m down for it, but are they?

Business cards have traditionally been the preferred networking tool of the working world, long before social networking via Facebook and LinkedIn became available. These sites function well for all the uses cards provide: Applying for jobs, hiring for jobs, passing along a name, planning a lunch or golf date, even tossing your name into a hat for winning stuff.

The question remains: Have these habit-forming cards become obsolete in the electronic age? According to TechCrunch, they should die once and for all. It’s just a matter of improving the handset alternative.

Crunch contributor Jason Kincaid finds, “The cell phone market could easily put business cards out of their misery, but instead of conforming to a single standard for contact exchange, handset manufacturers offer proprietary solutions or none at all.”

Examples he cites include apps like Friendbook, an iPhone “handshake”  connector from Tapulous, and rmbrME (“remember me”), a service launched last spring that costs 50 cents every time you wanted to add a new contact. A poor response to the model has led the company’s founder Gabe Zichermann to offer a premium service in the future.

Still, an etiquette column in the Newbury Port News takes the opposing view, arguing traditional cards are not just pieces of paper, but an integral part of doing business that can never be replaced.

To support this claim, columnist Judy Bowman points to the Japanese example. In Japanese, the business card, or “makke,” literally translated means “my face,” and represents one’s life.

“The business card you receive from someone speaks volumes about them and the firm they represent,” Bowman says.

Bowman goes further to describe the elaborate dance of the Japanese business card exchange, apparently as dramatic as the tea ceremony: “Our Japanese friends suggest an almost ritualistic way to present and receive business cards. Present the printed side up with both hands, a thumb and forefinger carefully holding each top corner. Respectfully hand the card forward, almost with a bow-like gesture, as a show of respect. This is the most formal way to present a business card.”

The Japanese – who are among the world’s most enthusiastic users and makers of electronics – are clinging to swapping cards almost as a cultural meme, a meme that shows they value tradition at a time of tremendous advances in global communication. But that doesn’t convince me to have a set engraved any time soon. After all, the Japanese are also still slaughtering whales.

Images: Jeff McNeil, Green Printer, TechCrunch, Japan Print

You’re already familiar with plenty of iPhone apps that help you stay green, but these days you’re concerned about saving some green, too. Here’s a handy guide to 20 essential money-saving apps – and most are free!

Mint
Free
This free app makes tracking your finances a cinch with user-friendly graphs and charts that help you manage your budget and examine your spending habits. Plus, it will also alert you of low balances to avoid overdraft fees. So, go ahead and cut your financial advisor loose because Mint does it all without the hefty charges.

Stanza
Free
Stanza gives you access to more than 100,000 books and periodicals for free. You also have the option to adjust the font size, color, line spacing and justification for your reading comfort. Watch out, paperbacks. Stanza may just usher you into extinction.

AudioBooks
Free
Similar to Stanza, this free app allows you to download audio books to keep you entertained when your eyes are needed elsewhere.

Cheap Gas
Free
Gas prices are constantly changing, so it’s hard to keep track of where to find the best deals. With Cheap Gas, all you have to do is enter in your zip code to find the best prices in your area. This free app is especially useful for road trips.

Truphone
Free
Using a Wi-Fi network and VOIP technologies, this free app allows you to make free local calls and cheap international calls on your iPhone to cut your phone bill by as much as 95%.

Gift Planner
Free
List all potential gift recipients and create a budget using this free app. It allows you to track the amount of money allotted for gifts and how much you’ve spent on each friend or family member. You can even take pictures of gift ideas for future reference.

Free Wi-Fi
Free
Never again will you pay for Wi-Fi on the go. This free app helps you locate spots that offer Wi-Fi access at no charge.

BetterDeal
$0.99
Leave your calculator behind next time you hit up the grocery store. With BetterDeal, you can enter in the amount of product and the price for up to four items. This app then calculates which item gets you the most for your money.

Pic2Shop
Free
You’ve probably seen this app on the iPhone commercials, and it’s just as nifty as it seems. For no charge, you can scan barcodes on items while shopping and find out whether another retailer offers a better deal.

Yowza
Free
Yowza locates coupons for merchants in your area that can be applied straight from your iPhone to save paper.

Rent or Buy Calc
Free
To rent or buy, that is the question. This free app gives you an easy answer by calculating which choice will save you more money in the long run.

CostCutter
$0.99
If you eliminate your morning latte from the café around the corner, how much money will you save in a week, a month, a year? This app helps you determine just that for any expenses that aren’t essential.

KidsEatFree
$0.99
Sure, eating out was affordable when it was just the two of you. But now that you have kids, it’s a whole other story. With this app, you can locate restaurants in your area where their meals are free.

Surcharge Free ATMs
$1.99
You need cash, so you stop at the nearest ATM, only to be slammed with surcharges. With this free app, you can locate ATMs in your area that don’t charge any additional fees.

RepairPal
Free
Do you ever feel like you’re getting ripped off when it comes to auto repairs? With RepairPal, you can look up estimates, find roadside assistance and locate auto shops in your area complete with ratings and reviews.

Yoga Stretch
$0.99
Stop shelling out cash for yoga classes and trade them in for this inexpensive app. Yoga Stretch walks you through different poses and lets you choose background music to simulate the entire experience from home.

Local Reuse
Free
One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure, but there’s no need to go dumpster diving with this free app. Local Reuse helps you locate items you need that others in your area are looking to discard.

Insurance Shopper
Free
With this free app, you can compare insurance rates and choose the best deal.

Woot Watch
Free
Woot Watch alerts you of the deal of the day on a variety of items from digital cameras to coffee makers.

Bargain Bin
Free
This free app helps you save money on, well, all the apps you’re interested in. It allows you to browse through discounted apps and alerts you of price cuts on apps you’re tracking.

Now, with your newfound savings, you can afford to splurge on some eco fashion!

Image: hickoryhollow113

Phone apps are the order of the day, whether you’re rocking an iPhone, a palm pre or one of the many other new-gen smartphones on the market with their own open-source application stores. Though finding a car that isn’t a gas-guzzler is simple enough, what about eco-friendly phone apps? The iPhone is known globally for its massive App Store, and here are just 10 of the earth-loving examples to get you on your way.

MyMPG

$2.99
Similar to greenMeter, MyMPG helps drivers maximize their fuel efficiency. It evaluates braking forces and acceleration, and even tracks statistics and improvements to your gas mileage over time. Best of all, it’s half the cost of greenMeter.

Green Lemur
Free
Green Lemur is just like Get Green, both offering eco-friendly advice on how to lead your lifestyle sustainably. Check out the tip of the day or browse by a specific topic. It’s a cinch to navigate and costs nothing.

MeterRead
$2.99
If your jaw drops upon opening your electrical bill, MeterRead is the app for you. It monitors your electric meter, enabling you to track your energy consumption and ultimately choose more efficient habits.

Gorgeously Green Survival Guide
$0.99
This green app is all you’ll need to avoid the harmful chemicals in beauty products like makeup and sunscreen. Use it along with GoodGuide, which identifies eco-friendly household products, to protect you and yours from toxins.

Go Organic!
Free
Comparable to iLocavore, Go Organic helps you find nearby organic grocery stores. Use it when you’re traveling in unfamiliar places to maintain your healthy, organic diet.

Greenpeace Tissue Guide
Free
Our dependency on paper products like toilet paper and tissues is unavoidable, but the Greenpeace Tissue Guide is a great research tool. This app finds the safest brands that use recycled materials and avoid bleaches that contain toxic chlorine compounds.

Carticipate
Free
Carticipate makes it easy to organize carpools with other environmentally concerned individuals in your area. Just punch in your departure time and destination and choose from a list of options.

iRecycle
Free
Don’t know where to toss it? With iRecycle, you choose from over 100,000 recycling and disposal sites from coast to coast based on either your location or the item you are looking to recycle.

Green Card
Free
Save paper by digitally sharing your business card with any of your iPhone contacts. If you change your address or phone number, Green Card automatically distributes the updated version to past recipients.

Yowza!
Free
This app is sure to make coupon clipping a thing of the past. Yowza finds coupons for nearby retailers that you present digitally in an effort to save paper.

For more green iPhone apps, visit Grist.

Image: bredgur

Sure, the iPhone can store information like credit card data and bank account information (Spb Software, Inc.), and give users the ability to watch TV (SlingPlayer Mobile), play air hockey (Touch Hockey FS5) and jam on a set of drums (Drum FX Pro). But the iPhone can also help you live more sustainably. We’ve trolled the web to unearth the best iPhone apps to make your time on this planet more fulfilling, and a slightly darker shade of green.

Piqqo Projects
Free
I found Piqqo Projects, a new online service for presenting carbon reduction projects around the world, to be one of the most inspiring – and free – apps. The online showcase ranges from a biogas renewable energy project in Hungary that turns waste into green energy while saving jobs, to indigenous Mexican groups that are protecting their land, and a solar powered Kindergarten, also in Hungary. Piqqo shows YouTube videos of the projects and explain carbon savings.

3rd Whale Mobile
$1.99
If you’re committed to living a sustainable life, then 3rdWhale Mobile could be the best $1.99 you’ve spent in a while. This location-based iPhone app connects you to green businesses in your area, offering 6 categories to choose from, such as food, retail and services. Enter whether you’re traveling by car, foot, or bicycle, and get directions, then rate the review. One of the most simple ways to learn what’s around you, and great for anyone that’s on the move. Now, with the addition of  “Creative Citizen Solutions,” users of this app can also make better purchasing and lifestyle decisions, such a using power strips to reduce energy waste from Vampire Appliances.

Go Green
Free
I look at Go Green as a terrific intro to the environment, or an app for the apathetic. For example, if you’re trying to get a friend or relative to be more eco-friendly and you know the only possible chance of success is through baby steps. Each time the application is opened, another bit-sized Green Tip is displayed, then saved to a list, such as:
“¢    Wrap your water heater in an insulated blanket, and you’ll eliminate 1,000 lbs. of CO2 a year. Eliminate another 550 lbs. by lowering the water heater thermostat to 120 degrees F. (These metrics have not been verified by EcoSalon).
“¢    Buy shade-grown coffee. It’s grown naturally, under the rainforest canopy, preserving forests from clear-cutting and leaving more trees to absorb CO2.

Get Green
.99
Get Green sends a helpful season-based daily tip to your iPhone, ranging from green workplaces, to throwing a green Halloween party and even greening your wedding. One recent tip: Instead of tossing used coffee grounds, add them to your garden soil. The grounds will provide nutrients that will help your plants flourish. Who knew?

iLocavore
Free
A locavore is someone who strives to eat food grown and produced locally. In fact, the movement is gaining such momentum that iLocavore touts the new Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore as its 2007 word of the year.

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.

GoodGuide
Free
This iPhone app helps you find safe green products while shopping in the store by providing – what they claim to be – the world’s largest and most reliable sources of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of products and companies. Find over 70,000 product ratings in food, personal care, household cleaners, and toys. View product ratings on the health, environmental, and social performance of your favorite brands, and create personalized shopping lists to search for, and avoid.
“We make it fast and easy to get the information you need to help make better decisions on everyday purchases based on what’s important to you,” say the folks at GoodGuide.

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.

For those of you who love a good interactive metric, you can learn from greenMeter by tipping the device forward and backward to simulate acceleration, and see the effects of both acceleration, aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance, across the speed range. Once inside your vehicle, choose an efficient cruising speed and use the built-in g meter to limit acceleration while you drive.

iNewz Green
$2.99
iNewz Green acts as a portal for eco-friendly, environment-aware news. Select the category of green news you’re interested in, and a list of the latest articles will be displayed. Tap the headline and an integrated browser page will take you straight to the selected article on the source’s website. If you like the story, email it to your friends, save it to your Del.icio.us bookmark,  or publish it to your Twitter stream. News is culled from such sources as Planet Green, The Daily Green, TreeHugger, Popular Science, Good Guide and the iNewz Vertography Blog.

A Real Tree
.99
A Real Tree plants trees in 12 countries to fight deforestation. They work with organizations that provide education to local communities to plant trees in an ecologically-beneficial manner, such as avoiding toxic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. The trees then produce nutritious fruits and crops that are eaten and also sold. By partnering with award-winning tree-planting organizations such as Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), and having endorsements from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), A Real Tree is gaining momentum.  The app also has a few Easter eggs: It includes mini-games to teach a bird to fly and get flowers to drift in a breeze.

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.

Do you have a favorite green iPhone app? We’d love to learn about it.

Image: Kennymatic