They may have the most commercials, but Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile aren’t the only cell phone providers out there. A 2-year contract with Credo Mobile will not only get you a cell phone, free nights and weekends, and unlimited “CREDO-to-CREDO calling,” the company will donate 1 percent of your charges to “progressive non-profits working for peace, civil rights, the environment, economic equality and fair voting” like Doctors Without Borders and the Sierra Club. They’ll even pay the penalty for breaking your current cell phone contract up to $200.
CELL KEY
We’ve all locked our keys in the car before. If you haven’t, you will. So be prepared, and no one will ever have to waste any extra gas coming to pick you up. If you lock your keys in your car, call home or wherever you keep your spare keys. On your cell phone, call that person on their cell phone. Have the person you call press the unlock button near their cell phone, as you stand about a foot away from your car door. It works. Really.
LOSE THE BACKLIGHT
If your phone’s backlight is illuminated for long periods of time, you’re wasting energy and killing your battery life. The same goes for those animated screen savers.
SET YOUR ALARM
Most cell phones have an alarm clock that uses a lot less energy than your fancy plays-CDs-projects-the-time-on-the-ceiling contraptions. So pull the plug and use your cell instead. Just don’t keep it next to your head or under your pillow.
BACK OFF
Cell phones emit an electromagnetic field, which is a form of microwave radiation, that enters the brain when the cell phone is held against the ear. Bluetooth devices emit the same frequency, and should be removed when not in use. So put your phone on speaker for long conversations, and don’t keep it clipped to your belt either, or in your pocket. If you’re buying a new cell phone, compare the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) numbers by visiting www.fcc.gov/cgb/sar. The lower the number, the better.
WIND IT UP
For around $10 you can buy what looks like one of those manual pencil sharpeners from your elementary school classroom from ThinkAwesome.com. But a few minutes of cranking this thing up will keep your cell running for about 25-30 minutes.
UNPLUG IT
Standby power or vampire energy wastes a massive amount of energy. Nokia claims the amount of electricity that could be saved if people unplugged their chargers is the equivalent of powering 85,000 homes a year. Only charge your battery when it runs out of juice, or is close to it—not every night.
