Tim Cook Announces Apple’s Earth Day Effort: ‘Apps For Earth’

Today Apple announced the arrival of a new green-initiative known as “Apps For Earth” to coincide with Earth Day next week. The project aims to spread environmental consciousness through its millions of customers by injecting environmental themes and motifs into 27 of its most popular apps. The tech giant plans to run ” Apps For Earth,” in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, for ten days, starting today and ending April 24. Earth Day is Friday April 22.

During this run, popular games like Angry Birds 2, Jurassic World: The Game, and SimCity BuildIt will all have ecologically minded twists. In SimCity BuildIt, for example, users will be able to plant a massive forest right in the midst of their city, as well as build coral reefs offshore and create habitat for endangered animals like tigers, gorillas, and pandas. In Angry Birds 2, the avian protagonists will promote ocean conservation by defending the seas’ ecosystems from the devilish pigs.

It’s fitting and frankly long overdue for Apple.

Each time one of the 27 apps involved is purchased, the proceeds will go to support the World Wildlife Fund in order to bolster the foundation’s climate and environmental initiatives. The Washington Post pointed out that given the size of the App Store—which is spread across 155 countries with millions of users—as well as the popularity of some of the apps themselves—Angry Birds 2 has been downloaded 85 million times—the proceeds from this initiative could be one of the largest conservation fundraising efforts ever.

It’s fitting and frankly long overdue for Apple—which has rolled out a number of other high profile green initiatives of late—to put such effort into environmentally conscious practices being as they are, part of an inherently non-green business.

For a more in-depth look at “Apps For Earth”, check out The Washington Post.