BY: INDIGO MILLER
What is Ecosia?
Ecosia is a search engine that plants trees from the ad revenue they earn. With the click of a button, this free and easy switch offers you the chance to make a difference in your everyday life
Ecosia’s team does extensive research to ensure that they’re planting native trees in the areas that need them most. They work with local communities who want trees in their area, but don’t have the financial resources to plant them at a large scale. So not only is Ecosia planting tons of trees, but those saplings have a high chance of survival to live a long life of absorbing CO2!
On top of that, the search engine is run with 100% renewable energy. When you pair that with the tree planting initiatives, searching on Ecosia is carbon negative.
It’s super easy to make the switch- there’s a chrome extension, as well as an app that’s compatible with iOS and Android.
Okay, but is Ecosia legit?
On paper, Ecosia might sound too good to be true. Where’s the catch?
In short, there isn’t one. The company publishes monthly financial reports that show where all of their money is going. They also describe themselves as a “social business”, which is a hybrid between a non-profit and for-profit company. While Ecosia does make a profit, they are committed to using those profits for their mission rather than a CEO salary.
You might also be concerned about the quality of the search results. Ecosia is run through Bing, which might make you cringe, but consider all the things that make Google search results so convenient. Despite any settings you can choose in your Google account, they’ll always be tracking your information.
Ecosia does not sell your information to advertisers. They also have a “do not track” feature that stops them from collecting analytics data from you. Read more about Ecosia’s privacy policy here.
Final thoughts
What are you waiting for? Using Ecosia is a quick and easy way to make a difference with something you already do every day.
I’ve been using Ecosia for a few years now, and I’ve planted over 200 trees with my daily searches. It’s so easy that I don’t even need to think about it. I hope you’ll consider joining me and making the switch!
