Turn your screen time into climate solutions with this app

(Editor’s note: A different version of this article on screen time was originally published on TessDrive.com. Reposted with permission.)

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and the enhanced community quarantine, many of us are staying home and spending more time online. What if we could use all that screen time to help solve the climate crisis?

Stockholm-based WeDontHaveTime AB (publ) is a startup crowdfunded by over 550 investors from 15 different countries. This Swedish company operates We Don’t Have Time, which seeks to harness the power of social media to find solutions for the climate crisis.

Creating a climate action

People can join this social network free of charge, where they can create climate actions and collaborate with other users. By building a community of climate heroes from all over the world, We Don’t Have Time members can influence companies, organizations, and public figures.

Just like any other social network, We Don’t Have Time has user-generated content. By joining the social network, members agree to these fundamental principles.

“I acknowledge the fundamental importance of scientific knowledge and institutions for humanity; that science must never be ignored in our collective efforts to create a better world, and I therefore acknowledge that human activity is a major cause of the climate crisis as long as there is well-established scientific consensus about this.”

You can also download the mobile app from the App Store and Google Play. One great incentive for downloading the app is that We Don’t Have Time plants a tree for every new app user.

We Don’t Have Time allows you to create a climate action. This is “a statement about how we can solve the climate crisis or improve our environment”. Now you can send this climate action to a recipient. This may be a public figure, a company, or an organization.

You can send three kinds of climate actions. Climate love is praise for someone who is already doing good for the climate. The idea is to encourage others to follow this recipient’s example. A climate idea is a suggestion for a new way of doing things. Lastly, a climate warning urges recipients to stop doing something that is bad for the climate.

Power of community

These climate actions harness the power of the community. Every climate action starts at Level 1. If more people agree with the action, it will reach a higher level, with more pressure exerted on the recipient. What happens if the climate action reaches the highest level, Level 6? A climate action manager will create and execute a public relations strategy to resolve the climate action.

Apart from letting people collaborate, We Don’t Have Time has a global climate news feed. This keeps members updated on the latest media coverage of the climate crisis. The app even allows you to calculate your climate footprint using the ClimateHero carbon calculator.

On Earth Day Week from April 20-25, We Don’t Have Time organized the world’s largest online climate conference. This was in collaboration with their lead partners, Exponential Roadmap and Earth Day Network. One hundred speakers from five continents joined the online conference, which was live streamed.

COVID-19 and climate crisis

In his press statement, We Don’t Have Time Founder and CEO Ingmar Rentzhog said the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis must go hand in hand.

“The world must clearly lift the threat of the current pandemic, but we cannot lose sight of the even bigger crisis facing our planet and its people. When the global economy restarts, it must do so with a clear and urgent direction towards a low carbon future,” he said.

Want to use your screen time to create your own climate action? Join We Have No Time now!