Short description
An app that allows the user to identify the nearest vegetarian restaurants.
In a world where we soon will be nine billion people and the fact that humans are very similar to other animals it is both a necessity to reduce meat consumption and an opportunity to move in adirection where we expand our ethical sphere.
By encouraging more vegetarian food the app supports a more equitable and sustainable society as well as supporting ethical living that result in as little suffering of other animals as possible.
The app: http://vegoutapp.com/
More info: http://www.happycow.net/
The best with the app/supporting initiative
+ Encourage people to eat vegetarian food
+ Global coverage (few cities that are not covered)
+ Easy to get direction info about the restaurant
+ Possibility to read other people comments
+ Relatively easy to provide input as a user
The weak parts of the app/supporting initiative
- No indication of how much you save/avoid hurting by eating vegetarian
- No well developed social function that could accelerate the spreading of the app
What could accelerate this app/supporting initiative into a world changer?
> improving transparency by allowing people to understand how much planet they save and how much
> Fair trade links
> Explain better that locally produced is not always better and making people understand life cycle assessments (LCA)
> Possibility to measure the savings if other people are brought to vegetarian restaurants, a dedicated business travel function could get more people to try vegetarian food.
> More encouragement to provide updates after visits resulting in a bigger, more diverse database.
> Possibility to provide data to other apps, such as Worksnug that would allow them to filter their choices.
> Could perhaps link to the new NTT app when it is ready, and if it is working.
More info
Delivery
How direct is the delivery of the result the app tries to achieve
- Direct
- Indirect
- Inspirational
- Long shot
Comments
Obviously have to get to the restaurant and chose vegetarian food, but you can't really get a food app that is more direct than this.
Transformative approach
How transformative is it
- A new world
- A major shift
- A bit of a shake-up
- A gentle rocking
Comments
Moving from a meat based society to a society that is (much more) vegetarian is one of the transformative shifts that would have significant positive impacts on the planet and people. It would hopefully also result in a more humbler approach towards natures and the other animals that we share this planet with.
How much does it encourage collaborations
How much are new networks supported
- Strong support for global networks?
- Currently encourages new forms of collaboration
- Provides interesting opportunities in the future
- Restricted to a small (expert) group
Comments
Not much today beyond the possibility to comment on the restaurant. A lot more could be done in terms of rewards for restaurants moving in the right directions, discussions about seasonal food, possibility to invite/nudge people to go to a restaurant after a highly rated visit.
What synergies can be delivered
How well does it also solve other problems/generate solutions
- It solves everything
- Several important challenges
- Some important challenges
- Only one challenge
Comments
Encouraging people to visit vegetarian restaurants and change food habits is contributing to many things especially reduced emissions, reduced water pollution, less suffering of animals and protection of rain forests.
Nine billion contribution
How global is it? Is it helping/will it help everyone on the planet
- Instant global equality
- Almost global
- Getting (incrementally) global
- Not applicable
Comments
Food habits that are sustainable is key for global equity. Not just the fact that the ecological footprint is on a level that allows nine billion people to live, but that the food consumption helps provide the poor with incomes through fair trade.
Building on current trends
How well does it use current trends
- The app is setting new trends by itself
- Building on multiple trends
- Effectively building on one trend
- Not really building on any major trend
Comments
Caring for the people and the planet though food choices is a fast emerging issue.
Timeframe
How fast can it deliver
- It's already happening
- In the coming weeks
- In a year or so
- In a distant future (hopefully)
Comments
Every time people use this app people have the opportunity to eat in a way that helps people and the planet. As important is that money is given to leading restaurants so that they can invest further in sustainable solutions.
Transparency
Does it support transformative transparency
- Brave new transparency
- Transparency that is innovative (never seen before)
- Increased transparency, but nothing innovative
- No increase in transparency
Comments
Showing where vegetarian food is available is a very good first step, but this app has significant opportunities to develop the transparency further and/or collaborate with others.