Super Eco

Photo credit: sarah gilbert

The problem with virtual pets and gardens and such is that they're virtual. Sure, you're learning to care for a living thing, but you're doing so while sitting indoors, avoiding social interaction and generating lots of carbon while you're at it. If only you could plant a seed virtually and physically.

The team at iPhactory is making that happen with its new iPhorest app, announced (but not yet launched) at TED. A joint venture between Raven Zachary, iPhactory and the Conservation Fund, iPhorest will plant a tree on your iPhone as the Conservation Fund plants a honest-to-gosh real tree in one of its renewal projects, beginning with a vulnerable wildlife habitat along the Gulf Coast. As your tree grows on your phone, you can send seeds to other phones and begin a forest, err, phorest.

According to Zachary, the application will be available within the next week or so at the iPhone app store. In the meantime, you can sign up to be notified of the growth of the project at the iPhorest web site. I'm interested to see how it works: would the virtual tree grow at the same rate as the real tree? Would your iPhone last long enough? Do your friends need to have the app installed, too, to receive seeds from you? And when is someone going to launch an app that lets me tend my backyard veggie garden on my iPhone? But as a concept, it's the best intersection of technology and green since the Rainforest Site.