Buy an app and help save the world with Apple and WWF

Apple has teamed up with the WWF and 24 developers from around the world to launch Apps for Earth. All proceeds from these apps (both initial purchases and subsequent in-app purchases), from now until the 24th April, will be donated directly to the WWF, to help the charity conserve forests, oceans, fresh water, wildlife and combat climate change. Apple is doing this as part of its goal to “leave the world better than we found it”.

All participating apps can be installed via www.AppStore.com/AppsForEarth, and includes apps from some top developers, including a special edition of Angry Birds 2, where you have to stop the piggies from over-fishing; Cut the Rope: Magic where Om Nom is turned into a Panda; the WWF app, where you can learn about endangered species; and plenty more.

The need for dramatic action has never been so clear, with some rather stark stats. Our forests are being cleared at a rate equivalent to 48 football fields a minute, which dramatically damages wildlife diversity and puts some species, such as the Orangutan, at danger of extinction.

Our oceans are at huge risk, too, but the consequences of not looking after them properly are dire: oceans produce more than 50% of the oxygen that we review, and a lot of the food.

For any doubters out there, the WWF’s 2014 report, Living Planet, found that populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish have declined by 52% over the last 40 years.

That’s not to say that things are beyond repair. Improved efficiency, more recycling, reducing waste and caring more about where and how we dump our rubbish can have a massive effect on the world.