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Save the Planet on Your Phone: Five World-changing Apps

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Josh Miller/CNET

(CBS/What's Trending) - Due to a global financial crisis and some of the worst natural disasters the world has recently endured, people and technology are changing. Thanks to a number of activism-based platforms and digital tools created to enhance social consciousness, our antennas are up, and participating in social change is as easy as touching a few buttons on our phones.

Smartphone apps that promote social responsibility are popping up left and right to help consumers play an active role in alleviating poverty, raising money for education, making sustainable and healthy food choices, and taking care of the planet. Here are five of our favorite world-changing apps.

ONE App that Could Change the World ONE, a grassroots anti-poverty group cofounded by Bono, launched a free mass-market iPhone app today to connect people interested in global life-saving projects. The app is designed to help ONE members communicate with local organizers and view real-time poverty fighting activism, as well as sign petitions to present to Congress. The ONE app keeps users in the know with daily content and multi-media using push notifications.

Catalista Currently in beta, the iPhone app Catalista helps people find local volunteer opportunities, while rating and sharing them with friends. All of the volunteer activities are all updated in real-time, allowing users to connect wherever they are at any given time. Catalista links to over 200,000 volunteer events across the United States. Fun fact: Catalista Founder, Catalista Ruiz-Healy came up with the idea for the app while she was on a bad online date.

Ushahidi Combining on the ground citizen journalism, Google maps, and mobile phone reports, the Ushahidi, platform was created to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election crisis in 2008. The Ushahidi iOS app http://itunes.apple.com/app/ushahidi-ios/id410609585 allows users to submit and view of reports across the Ushahidi network. When equipped with the Ushahidi app, GPS-enabled phones can pinpoint the exact latitude and longitude of violent events, and camera phones can take pictures of the incidents as they're happening.

EdRover The school fundraising app EdRover, empowers consumers to donate to their favorite schools by checking in at local contributing businesses. Through EdRover's partnership with Classwish.org, teachers can create wishlists of school supplies for their classrooms. Sending art supplies, books, overheads, instruments, whatever is needed to enhance a child's education is as easy as checking in a local coffee shop. Users have 99,000 pre-programmed schools across the U.S. to choose from when participating in this check-in for charity initiative. 

Seafood Watch The Seafood Watch app from Monterey Bay Aquarium makes recommendations for sustainable and healthy seafood at restaurants and stores. Information about how fish items are fished and farmed is provided, along with the option to contribute seafood business suggestions. The app also offers alternatives to any seafood that is on the "Avoid" list.

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