Residents within the Western world have a considerable ecological footprint due to their high level of prosperity. Progressive digitization also contributes to this. The following green tech initiatives hope to set in motion a counter-movement. And you can contribute to that yourself, simply by adjusting your surfing behavior!
Do the footprint test of the World Wildlife Fund just once, and you know enough. It can all be a little less. In addition to the well-known methods to reduce the burden on the environment, you can also do your bit from behind the computer.
Search with Ecosia or SearchGreen instead of Google, for example. Make purchases via Browsy or TreeClicks at participating web shops and help create fresh forests. Let’s take a closer look at the mentioned services.
Ecosia
Those who use the internet consume a lot of energy. This does not only happen indoors via your computer, monitor and network equipment, but also externally. Just think of all those servers in energy-guzzling data centers that keep the websites up and running.
Ecosia is happy to do something in return, because this Dutch-language search engine uses the majority of its income to plant new trees. This happens worldwide and there are already more than 120 million! The more people search the internet via Ecosia, the more income this web service generates.
How exactly does that work? As soon as you perform a search based on one or more keywords, ads will appear at the top of the results page. Since it was founded in 2009, this has already brought in about thirteen million euros.
Incidentally, the search engine works fine in practice. The web service uses the search robots of Microsoft Bing to guide its users on the internet. A counter at the top right shows how many searches you have performed so far.
About 45 searches are required for each new tree. Avid users can optionally install a browser plug-in or mobile app from Ecosia.
Search Green
In addition to Ecosia, there is also met Search Green another search engine that uses its ad revenue to plant new trees. An important difference is that SearchGreen relies on Google’s robots. After entering a keyword, the results page will look familiar to you.
In its own words, this Dutch search engine donates no less than 95 percent of its turnover to tree-friendly organizations. There are currently two, namely Trees for All and Justdiggit. So far, more than three hundred trees have been planted with the help of SearchGreen and more than 2.5 hectares of dry landscape have been greened.
Browsy
Browsy calls on the consumer society to plant fresh trees. Install this plug-in in your browser, buy a product at a participating webshop and make the world a little greener. Incidentally, you do not pay anything extra for your online purchases.
After installation, Browsy settles in the top right corner of the browser. Click on this icon and set the option in the settings for convenience Activate automatically On. Are you looking for a nice pair of shoes online or are you going straight to your favorite online store? There is a good chance that Browsy will show itself, so that you know that you are supporting the creation of new forests with your purchase.
You will see the term in Google search results Partner support participating web shops. Well-known names such as MediaMarkt, EP, BCC and Coolblue act as partners for this green initiative.
Browsy receives between one and six percent of the asking price of a purchased product. The exact percentage depends on the ordered product and the agreements with the relevant webshop. Eighty percent of the total proceeds goes to two organizations committed to reforestation, namely Eden Projects and WeForest.
TreeClicks
TreeClicks finally uses a similar concept to the previously discussed Browsy. This service also monitors via a browser plug-in whether you purchase something from a participating webshop. TreeClicks receives a fee for bringing in new customers and uses the majority of this proceeds for reforestation projects in Peru, Australia and Tanzania, among others.
Would you like to know as soon as TreeClicks plants a new tree thanks to your purchases? Then create an account and receive an e-mail. Incidentally, the extension itself also contains a tree counter.
The browser plug-in works in combination with almost 45,000 online stores, including Amazon.com, MediaMarkt, Bijenkorf and Albert Heijn. As soon as you open the digital shopping cart of a webshop, a pop-up window with a link will appear. Click on this and then settle it to support the growth of wooded areas.
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