Can widgets save the world?

From iPhone and Android apps to help you debate climate change sceptics to online tools to calculate how much feed-in tariff cash your solar panel could generate for you, there’s no shortage of widgets, wizards, counters, gadgets and doodads out there to provide users with guidance and insights for living more sustainably.

But is widget-based knowledge really green power? And, if so, can all these little apps and widgets actually help us stave off TEOTWAWKI?

There’s no question most of these green gadgets work as advertised. Skeptical Science’s app for the iPhone and Android lets users quickly access a wealth of information to counter the most common yet erroneous arguments against human-caused climate change. Deutsche Bank’s “Know the Number” counter offers a mind-blowing visual for understanding how much carbon dioxide society is spewing into the atmosphere by the second. And AlertMe’s new assortment of online tools provide quick and handy ways to not only assess the potential benefits of rooftop photovoltaics but to measure the carbon footprint of your home electricity use, plastic bag-using habits and travel choices.

All beneficial stuff, certainly. We’re not arguing that it isn’t good to have one’s eyes opened to the environmental impacts of our lifestyles. But here’s our concern: aren’t all these tools and widgets, for the most part, preaching to the choir? Are they really changing the minds and habits of many people who previously didn’t care about how sustainable they were? Or are they being used mostly by people who are already trying to be as green as possible and are just curious to see their efforts quantified via a counter or calculator?

We’re guessing the latter is more likely. And that means what we really need to build sustainability is not more cool apps but a marketplace that prices the goods and services we buy in a way that reflects their true impact on the planet. It’s only after a fair price on things like carbon emissions or biodiversity impact is built into what we pay for our iPhones, internet service, cafe lattes and more, that everyone is more likely to care about their carbon footprints … and to seriously look for ways to reduce them.

If that ever happens, all these little widgets could really prove their worth.