The problems of the environment have never been greater. The pollution has reached its maximum, global warming is changing the climate and many animal and plant species are on the verge of extinction, people keep deforestation to the last tree. The warnings for saving our planet have never been louder, yet the deterioration of the Earth’s state cannot be slowed down so easily. It seems that people got used to being present more in the online world than in the real one, therefore they do not seem ecologically conscious enough about the problems of the environment. All of this requires certain action, and there is a way to support the healing of the planet while surfing the Internet. The solution is to use Ecosia.
What is Ecosia?
Ecosia is a search engine that inspires you to help nature grow and your environment flourish. While you search the Internet through Ecosia, it plants trees on your behalf on the grounds which suffered from deforestation mostly. The fantastic thing about Ecosia is that it is completely free, and you can add its extension to your Google Chrome. It goes like this: when you search the web, the ads which you bump upon collect money for Ecosia. The money collected from ads is directed planting trees in areas where it is most needed.
The Ecosia motto is ‘We believe in everyone’s power to do good’. It started as an idea in 2009 – its creator, Christian Kroll, recognized the major problems of deforestation after a journey around the world. In the next two years, Ecosia was granted several awards for its clever concept and speedy growth. It continued to grow until 2019 when it experienced a real boom.
The Value of Ecosia
The true value of Ecosia is in its practicality. It needs 1.3 seconds to plant one tree, and it has planted over 142 million trees so far. It collaborates with more than 30 countries all over the world and counts more than 15 million active users. Ecosia also cares about the biodiversity of the environment – the company grows over 500 different native species where they seem to disappear. The company supports more than 60 projects in countries like Thailand, the Philippines, Cameroon, Mexico, Nigeria, and many more.
What the company cares about most is the users’ trust. Ecosia is a non-profitable organization, which means that they dedicate all of their profit to climate actions, 80% of which fund tree-planting projects. As far as privacy is concerned, the search engine does not take advantage of your searched data and does not collect your personal details. When it comes to financial reports, Ecosia shows the public detailed financial reports on a monthly basis and offers frequent updates from the tree planting projects. The way the search engine is powered is also eco-friendly – it uses solar panels which produce twice the needed amount of renewable energy.
In addition, the Ecosia company offers a place for ads that would fund tree planting. It also follows technological trends and possesses a free mobile app that can be easily downloaded. The website contains an interesting blog on various topics regarding environmental sustainability. For those who like merchandise products, there is an online shop that also directs money to planting trees.