Photo: Soloviova Liudmyla/Shutterstock

This Alarm Clock Makes You Donate to Conservation Charities for Hitting the Snooze Button

Travel
by Matt Hershberger Mar 30, 2016

THE WORST PART OF MY DAY is when my alarm goes off. I groan and paw at my phone, trying to get it to snooze as quickly as possible. But the snooze button just guarantees that I’m about to hear another horrible alarm sound in 7 minutes, so it’s not much comfort.

A new app has decided to take some of the sting out of waking up, though: it’s called Zooster, and it’s being called the “world’s first charitable alarm clock.” What it does is simple: you choose an animal, and the alarm wakes you up to the sound of that animal roaring, howling, or making whatever noise the animal is known for. This alone is a great idea — nothing gets you out of your bed and onto your toes quicker than the primal fear of a lion attack.

But it’s the next step that’s particularly cool: if you hit snooze, you automatically donate one tax-deductible dollar to a charity that supports the conservation of the animal you woke up to (including grey wolves, orcas, lions, orangutans, African elephants, giraffes, and river otters). It’s a simple, smart way of raising money for good conservation causes that gives you both a reason to get out of bed (“I can’t be spending money this early in the morning,”) and a reason to stay in it, (“I’m going to sleep in, but only because it’s for a good cause,”).

Zooster is going to be released in the app store this coming fall. You can learn more about the app and join their e-mail list here.

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