Ecosia- The Free and Easy Way to Help The Environment

Why is this important?

Earth is currently in a climate crisis. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are being pumped into the atmosphere faster than it is being taken out. This is common knowledge. We have known about this for decades. Yet it feels as though it is never talked about, and nothing is ever done about it.

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One reason for this might be that some people simply refuse to acknowledge its existence. Many people believe that climate change is either entirely false or that it is simply far overexaggerated. Some of these people even hold office in high-up political positions. But this does not explain why it still continues to be a massive issue. The fact of the matter is that everyone contributes to climate change, not just a few people. The majority of people who believe that climate change is real, and will have devastating effects on the future of humanity still produce vast amounts of pollution. This ranges from them driving their cars to work to eat some barbecue. Both produce large amounts of carbon emissions, yet are done regularly.

But this article is not about how climate change will lead to the end of society as we know it, or even how these things contribute to it. Instead, this article is about what can be done about it in a free, easy, and efficient manner. This article is about ecosia.org.

What is Ecosia?

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Ecosia is a search engine founded in 2009 based in Berlin, Germany. Its goal is to use its profits to plant trees around the world in an effort to effectively combat climate change. In January of 2021 alone, they used 48% of their total income (1,204,154 Euros) to plant 671,352 trees. The rest of their income was used on taxes, operational costs, investments in carbon-friendly projects, and advertising. All of this information can be found on their personal website homepage where they post monthly transparency reports on their revenue.

Ecosia has planted over 120 million trees, and that number continues to increase daily. With over 15 million users, a tree is planted on average every 1.3 seconds at over nine thousand planting sites ranging from Nicaragua to Madagascar. They have helped remove millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, and continue to do so. But planting trees isn’t the only way they remove CO2 from the atmosphere. On Ecosia’s official website it says “Our servers run on 200% renewable energy, and every search request removes 1kg of CO2 from the atmosphere.” This is in large part due to the fact that their servers are run entirely on solar power, with all excess energy produced being sent into the energy grid ridding it of fossil-fuel-based power.

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Ecosia doesn’t just plant trees either. They plant trees through humanitarian efforts that create jobs in some of the poorest nations in the world. For example, in Burkina Faso, Ecosia’s efforts greatly benefit the local villagers and help them develop agriculture practices. This allows for them to have access to better nutrition than they had before, and also lowers crime as they have steady jobs that they use to support themselves.

On top of all the great reasons to use Ecosia, they are simply a phenomenal search engine. It works just as well as google. But unlike Google or other large search engines, they are great at protecting your privacy. On their website, they say that they don’t store your search info permanently, don’t sell your data to advertisers, encrypt your searches, and don’t use external tracking tools.

How to go above and beyond

There is more you can do than just use Ecosia. Ecosia allows you to start your own forest by outright purchasing trees to be planted. They also offer a wide array of merchandise, all of which goes towards planting new trees. Their products are also made with renewable energy, created using natural materials which can be reused once the product has worn out, and is sent using plastic-free shipping. These products can be found at ecosiashop.com.

It can be hard figuring out how to make a meaningful change in your everyday life. But now you can. Clearly, there is no reason as to why you should not use Ecosia. Every single search that you make on Google could be benefiting an organization that plants trees to combat the crisis which is global warming, instead of benefiting a company that will do nothing with your money but store it and spend it on its own self-interests.

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Resources

• “Buy Trees for Your Friends and Family.” Ecosia , Ecosia, 2021, plant.ecosia.org/.

• Ecosia Clothing, Ecosia, 2021, ecosiashop.com/.

• “Ecosia Is the Search Engine That Plants Trees.” Ecosia, Ecosia, info.ecosia.org/what.

• “Ecosia's Financial Reports.” The Ecosia Blog, Ecosia, Jan. 2021, blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-financial-reports-tree-planting-receipts/.

• “Ecosia's Trees in Burkina Faso.” The Ecosia Blog, Ecosia, 28 Oct. 2020, blog.ecosia.org/burkina-faso/.

• “We Protect Your Privacy.” Ecosia, Ecosia, 31 Mar. 2020, info.ecosia.org/privacy.