Sustainability startup launches app to help people become active consumers
On Earth Day, The Active Consumer is rolling out the mobile app ‘Econus’ to spark positive change and reduce environmental impact through tangible actions
What is the true cost of consumption?
This is the question entrepreneur and sustainability activist Scott Fletcher asked himself when considering the impact of human buying habits on our world.
According to Fletcher, consumption may seem benign and necessary as people fulfill their range of needs, but in reality it has many unintended and negative consequences. Added up, the items humans purchase may be contributing to everything from air pollution to worker exploitation, animal cruelty, and even the rise of healthcare premiums for all.
Fletcher’s solution was to create a way for people everywhere to rethink the impact of their consumption and change their buying behaviors for the betterment of the planet.
With The Active Consumer, the goal is to reduce the impact of everyday purchases by giving “purpose to our spare change, and our spare change to purpose.” Fletcher’s vision is for individual consumer actions to influence systemic change.
Now, on the heels of the launch of their website earlier this month, Fletcher and his team are launching a new mobile app on Earth Day (April 22). “Econus” uses the theory of externalities to empower consumers to engage in the economics behind consumption to reduce negative unintended consequences and spark positive change.
With the app, users can align with specific causes, link the purchases they make with these causes, and choose a non-profit that will receive their Rounded-Up spare change whenever a select purchase affects their cause. For example, a user passionate about supporting environmental causes can choose to link purchases like power bills, gas, and travel expenses to the cause of air quality and have the spare change from those purchases go to an organization like Moms Clean Air Force.
As a social app, Econus also allows users to create “Preference Personas” and connect with like-minded individuals to crowdfund for the charitable causes that matter to them.
“We all have to buy things to live, whether that’s dinner for the family or transportation to and from work,” Fletcher said. “We are excited to have created a unique and disruptive app that will allow people living their lives to simultaneously reduce their footprint and make our world a better place.”
For more information about the Econus mobile app, go to https://theactiveconsumer.com/econus.
Learn more about The Active Consumer at https://theactiveconsumer.com. Follow the Active Consumer on Facebook at @theactiveconsumers, on Instagram at @theactiveconsumer, and on Twitter at @TActiveConsumer.
Contact
Scott Fletcher (Founder & CEO)
