If you are looking for a quick and easy way to pay it forward this Earth Day, and have access to the World Wide Web, Ecosia has a solution for you.
What the heck is Ecosia?
According to its website https://www.ecosia.org, Ecosia is “the search engine that plants trees”.
Now, how does it manage to do that?
Through the ad revenue generated from your searches, Ecosia utilizes 80 percent of its profits to plant trees where they are needed most.
Founded in 2009 by social entrepreneur Christian Kroll, the search engine provides an easy method for you to help plant trees, right from the comfort of your couch (or beach towel, office chair, barstool, etc). As of this writing in April 2022, the organization is responsible for the planting of 148 million trees worldwide.
Sounds too good to be true! Is Ecosia some kind of scam?
With all the gimmicks out there, it’s easy to believe that Ecosia is a scam, a means by which the earnest are taken advantage of by some evil Dark-Web Vader hacker out there somewhere.
Fear not! As a Certified B Corporation, Ecosia has had a stellar reputation as a socially responsible enterprise. Scam Dectector Validator has awarded Ecosia the rank of 100%, which means “Safe. Secure.”
Does Ecosia utilize its own search engine, or does it piggyback on one of the bigger search engines like Google? And what does it do with the data from my searches?
Ecosia utilizes Microsoft’s Bing search engine. According to their privacy page, they render all searches into anonymity within a week, and they do not create a profile page for users. Additionally, they claim to not sell your information to advertisers, that their encryption programs prevents eavesdropping, and that they do not use external tracking tools.
Sounds great! I’m ready to plant trees just by searching! How does that work?
Just go to the website, ecosia.org and get started! According to their website, 45 searches even if you don’t click on ads will plant a tree somewhere in this world. There’s a little counter that pops up in the top right hand in the corner that tells you how many searches you’ve accumulated. But even if you’re like me and clear out your search data every time you leave a site, your search still counts.
Still don’t feel comfortable utilizing Ecosia as a search engine, but want to do your part to plant trees this Earth Day? Visit the Ecosia Tree Store to peruse their options of ethical trees to be planted, helping people and the planet.
Just remember, every little bit counts! And every day is Earth Day!
Happy searching!