Ecosia: The New Search Engine That Plants Trees

Are you looking for an easy way to support the environment? Ecosia.org gives you a way to do that just by performing internet searches. Instead of using your normal search engine, use the one provided by Ecosia.

When you go to the Ecosia website on your desktop or laptop computer, you’ll see a button that will ask you to add the search engine extension to your browser. If you’re on a smartphone or another mobile device, go to your app store to add the browser search engine. By using the Ecosia search engine and then clicking on ads and online purchases that you find through your searches, you’ll generate revenue for Ecosia. In turn, this non-profit organization will use these funds to plant trees and support community ecological programs all over the world.

What Ecosia Promises to Do

This organization’s promises to use 80 percent of its profits from ad income to plant trees and vows to remain transparent through its financial reports. In fact, the most visible show of Ecosia’s efforts is the counter on the home page that shows the number of trees planted worldwide through the organization’s funding.

When you use Ecosia’ search engine, you get results from Bing, which is one of the major search engines on the internet, using Ecosia’s algorithms. At the same time, the trees planted from your efforts will help to neutralize carbon dioxide emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere.

What is Ecosia?

It’s a non-profit company founded by Christian Koll in Berlin, Germany in December 2009. Koll, who has a degree in business administration from Nuremberg University, had decided to travel around the world to learn about deforestation. His adventures took him to places such as India, Thailand and Nepal, where he established a local search engine to fund projects in that country. In addition, Koll traveled to Brazil and Argentina where he learned about rainforest deforestation. That, along with reading “Hot, Flat and Crowded” by Thomas L. Friedman, gave him the idea that he needed to do something about the environment, thus leading to the formation of Ecosia and the idea that a search engine could help reforestation by financing planting projects.

While Ecosia’s operations are in Berlin, it is also a B Corporation, which means it is based in the United States as a private, non-profit organization. Certified B Corporations are businesses that balance purpose and profit. In order to be designated as one, the company must meet high standards of environmental and social performance, transparency and accountability. Other high profile companies that are B Corporations include Ben & Jerry’s, Cabot Cheese, KickStarter and Stoneyfield Organic, among others. Ecosia became the first certified B Corporation in Germany in 2014.

Other Ways You Can Help

Like our efforts here at The Great Gathering, Ecosia is trying to spread the word about what you can do to help the environment, one of the best things you can do is simply spread the world about Ecosia’s efforts and ask friends to use their search engine. At the moment, Ecosia doesn’t accept donations, but by supporting the organization’s reforestation partners, you’re still helping the effort to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions.

To stay up to date on Ecosia’s efforts, subscribe to the organization’s newsletter and read the blogs on its website. Look for Ecosia on Instagram and Facebook and share the organization’s posts on social media.

By continuing to support organizations like Ecosia and The Great Gathering, you are joining a global movement of people who are attempting to do good through their business actions.