The Greener Search Engine

Last Updated on December 30th, 2018

Generating Money For Conservation

Ecosia is a search engine. A pretty clear and simple one at that. Although Google is by far the most popular one, Ecosia can actually add-on to Google Chrome as an extension (how I run it). What makes Ecosia so cool is that it donates 80 percent of its profits towards conservation. Specifically protecting and planting trees. As of Sept 2018, they’ve already planted over 40 million trees!

Ecosia‘s Credentials

The Founder and CEO, Christian Kroll launch Ecosia in 2009. He was apparently compelled to start-up this search tool after a trip around the world that emphasized for him the need to protect and grow our forests. Ecosia has since partnered up with Bing, widening its user-base as it continues its work defending forests.

Based out of Berlin, they were recently in the news for trying to help protect the ancient German forest of Hambach from destruction. This 12,000 year old forest has already been decimated by coal mining, and there is only about 10% of it remaining (see Deutsche Welle). This last remnant of the forest is currently owned by RWE, a German utility, that is looking to cut it down to mine for more coal.

Click the image to learn why planting trees is still one of our best means of combating climate change.

Putting Down Roots

While the energy company has been attempting to clear-cut the forest, protestors and activists have been fighting for years to prevent that from happening. Ecosia has since made an offer of €1m to buy it from them, although the offer has not yet been taken.

From what I see, they put there money where their mouth is, and literally try to preserve and plant trees. For that, I think it offers a brilliant search engine alternative. I mean we have to look up stuff either way, so in using Ecosia at least you know you’re supporting an organization that supports trees.

The Transition to Non-Profit