Step Aside Google! There’s A New Search Engine That Plants Trees (With Video)
Ecosia is a social business that wants you to help change the world and end deforestation… one search at a time. They are a search engine based in Berlin, Germany that donates 80% of its surplus income to non profit organisations. These organisations focus on one thing – planting trees. The remaining 20% of their income is used to neutralise CO2 emissions and meet expenses.
Ecosia is made up of a small team of dedicated individuals. They were founded in 2009 and are working hard to help end deforestation. Ecosia are on an ambitious journey to plant one billion trees by 2020. They want to “create a world where the environment no longer needs protecting”. Their project will help promote biodiversity, water security and clean air. The Ecosia community plants a tree every 1.7 seconds. So far, over 13,000,000 trees have been planted in countries such as Madagascar, Tanzania and Peru.
Simply use the Ecosia search engine (which runs on Bing) and the income generated from your search will go towards a tree being planted.
Founder, Christian Kroll said that “thanks to sponsored links, search engines earn billions every year. Ecosia believes that there is a more eco-friendly way of using these huge profits and that the money should better be used to fight global warming.” For complete transparency, Ecosia also publish their financial reports on their website. This means that you can keep up to date with their projects and see their tree planting receipts.
Kroll has also been able to provide some stats on their progress. “Our worldwide market share might be miniscule compared to a monopolist like Google, but 10% of all non-Google users in the DACH region use Ecosia. This percentage is currently quite noticeably growing in other regions, too. Especially in the UK, probably due to Google’s tax situation. The fact that users now change to Ecosia shows us, that the future belongs to tools that capitalize on a daily habit to offer an additional social or environmental benefit.”
Ecosia have supported a number of sustainable projects in the last few years. This includes a rainforest project in the Brazil Amazonas region, the Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees program and the WeForest program.
It is important to note that there are other third sector search engines out there such as Everyclick. This is powered by Yahoo and uses its ad revenue to raise money for charity. So far, more than £8,000,000 has been raised.
IMAGE CREDIT: Ecosia
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I am Luke Miller, content manager at Truth Theory and creator of Potential For Change. I like to blend psychology and spirituality to help you create more happiness in your life.Grab a copy of my free 33 Page Illustrated eBook- Psychology Meets Spirituality- Secrets To A Supercharged Life You Control Here
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