Introducing Earthling: Our next chapter
Evolving from Earth Action Index and releasing a mobile app
🌀 We made an app. It’s called Earthling OS. Download on mobile (iOS only for now) or visit on desktop.
Once upon a time, there was a platform called the Earth Action Index.
It was a caterpillar: young, ambitious, a little ugly. It was gray with a splash of blue, a dense database of climate actions near you.
Then came the transformation. It shifted into the chrysalis we call “beta testing.” More than one hundred of you gave your feedback and shared what you hoped it would become. We iterated and improved until it started to feel alive.
Today, the Earth Action Index completes its metamorphosis: a new name, a new feel, a new format. Its DNA remains the same. Like any living thing, it’s never done changing or evolving. We can’t wait to show you how it’s grown.
Introducing Earthling OS
We’re releasing the first public version of the website and app—one year in the making. We call it Earthling OS. It’s like if Wirecutter, iNaturalist, and Atlas Obscura had a baby. It draws inspiration from the Whole Earth Catalog. Available on desktop and mobile iOS, and more formats still to come.
Here’s what it does.
1. Earthling helps you notice local nature, wherever you are.
Connection with the living world starts with noticing it—a simple practice of attention. More than objects of observation, we start to see nonhuman life as subjects with agency in our local ecosystems.
Checking the field guide before I leave for the day, I’ve learned to recognize everything from robins foraging to feed their first brood to columbine blooming in step with the arrival of ruby-throated hummingbirds. Even in faraway lands of Patagonia, it helped me recognize rare orchids and austral birds in a completely new place.
2. Earthling offers thoughtful human recommendations aligned with your place and interests.
Solar energy for renters. Outdoor adventure films. Birding products. Activism opportunities. Heat pump providers. Discover a growing library of human recommendations, shared by a global community of contributors (you can be one too). It’s not an algorithmic feed. It’s a place for intentional discovery. The theme that ties them all together is best described as: tools and ideas for being an Earthling.
3. Earthling curates things you can do and actions you can take, here and now.
Many platforms and apps are trying to extract your attention. We are not. We are in the business of enabling experiences in the real world. Find events happening near you, communities to join in your place, and accessible ways to participate in solutions. For example, there is a program in New York where they send you a free battery, you plug it into your A/C unit, and then they send you $200 at the end of the summer. Lowers your electricity bill and relieves energy stress on the grid all summer. It’s all about rediscovering your agency.
Help us widen the circle.
If what you’ve seen here made you think of someone—a particular Earthling in your own life—the door is now wide open for them. You can now share Earthling OS freely with friends with no invite codes needed.
This is Version 1.01—with lots of growth and evolution to come. As you explore the tool, would love to hear from you about how it can improve: a rose, bud, and a thorn from your experience. And if there’s anyone you think we should meet, let us know.
Roll the credits.
First, thank you for being a part of our first year on this journey, and for your support and encouragement along the way. A few specific shoutouts:
First contributors who believed in this before it was real: Hana Subrahmanyan, Isha Chawla, Marin Warshay
Brendan Pierce for your collaboration and leadership of our first cohort of editorial Fellows, who are all credited here
Our early birds who offered feedback on our young caterpillar and helped shape the butterfly you see today. Special thanks to Shaun Emerson, Lisa Fay Matthiesen, Peter Krebs, Clare Zaytoun, Helena Dong, Duncan Ransom, Grace Warder, Adam Gardner, Julia Bunte-Mein, Tess Dennison, Lily Seckendorf, Adam Blumenthal, Christopher Breedlove, Sydney Milewski, Jourdan Parham, Nelia Leemans, Adam Gardner, Will Simon, Jono Zarrilli, Joel Krieger, Leo Salvaggio, Zaza Kabayadondo, Ryan Littman-Quinn, Graham Hill, Luke Miller, Olivia Tai, Bubby Vernon, Ariel Sim, Lizzy Baum, and Jessica Riquetti. Your collective wisdom is so much of what helped this product come to life.
Gabrielle Gustilo and Alex Bennett for being our technical gurus
Friends at BEAM Studio for a truly joyful collaboration on logo, wordmark, and brand strategy
Family and friends for your constant support and encouragement
Advisors and mentors - you know who you are!
We couldn’t have done this without you.
