It’s a Lot Like Google, But It Plants Trees When You Search
Have you heard of the eco-friendly search engine?
Most of us jump straight on Google when we want the answer to a question.
Sure, Google makes our lives easier and we usually prefer it over its rivals. But imagine if there was a search engine that performed at the same level, and it was doing great things for the planet…
Meet Ecosia
What makes Ecosia special is that they plant trees when you use the site. And the more searches you carry out with them, the more trees they plant. Ecosia estimate that it takes around 45 searches to plant a tree. It doesn’t take long for most of us to search on the internet 45 times.
Ecosia support over 20 projects in 15 different countries all over the world. They work with local partners and target threatened areas which hold a high number of unique species. You can find more about Ecosia’s methods of reforestation here.
During June 2019, they reached the 60 million tree milestone.
Features
The platform may have a few stylistic differences from what you’re used to seeing, but this doesn’t take long to adapt to. If you moved from Ask Jeeves to Yahoo Search to Google over the years, you did the same thing.
Ecosia supports standard text search functionality. It also has clean Images, News and Videos interfaces. And it enables you to search your term directly into Youtube, Wikipedia, Google or Amazon in two clicks.
A new Ecosia Travel feature (currently in beta) allows you to can search for hotels by selecting your dates and comparing the most popular travel sites.
When Ecosia’s functionality doesn’t cover something, they’ll link you through to other options. For instance, if I click on the Maps link on the dashboard, it gives me the options of using Bing Maps or Google Maps.
The important part is that you land on Ecosia’s home page to begin your search.
Business model
It’s essential because this eco-friendly search engine uses search ads, which generate income. They then donate 80%+ of their profits to nonprofit organisations that focus on reforestation.
That being said, Ecosia isn’t littered or crowded with adverts. I even had to go back to the platform to look for the ads when I found out this was their business model. 🧐
Why should I make Ecosia my default search engine right now?
Between 1990 and 2016, the world lost 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) of forest. This is an area larger than South Africa.
Supporting initiatives that carry out reforestation is crucial.
We desperately need our trees to support wildlife diversity, as they provide homes to more animals than any other landscape. Trees also release water vapour on hot days, provide shelter from the sun, defend against floods, filter pollutants in the air and provide the oxygen we need to literally breathe. Oh, and they’re absolutely beautiful.
Useful links
You can find updates on what Ecosia are up to on their blog.
You can download this eco-friendly search engine:
For full transparency, find out more on Ecosia’s:
Pssst. When I last pressed enter on a search, Ecosia told me that I’ve planted 238 trees so far. That feels really f-ing cool.
Originally published at https://carolineisawriter.com.
