There are plenty of search engines, but chances are you use Google. The non-profit search engine Ecosia hopes to bring in users with a noble goal: to use the majority of its ad revenue to plant trees.
You should know this about Ecosia
Ecosia is one German search engine who, like all other search engines, earns money by serving you advertisements. If you click on an ad, Ecosia will receive a certain amount. It is true that the ‘social enterprise’ wants to earn as much money as possible, but that is not because the company wants to get rich. After all, every euro that is made in profit goes to nature conservation projects.
This is mainly done by planting trees in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Peru and Kenya. These offset the CO2 emissions of cars, factories and airplanes, thus slowing global warming. The trees also provide food and employment for residents.
To prove that the money is actually being spent well, Ecosia makes a monthly finacial report available. This states, among other things, how much money was earned in that month and on which projects it was spent.
This is how the app works
If you want to support Ecosia, you can do so simply by using the search engine. By clicking on an interesting ad, you indirectly donate to the company. The iOS app works like any other search engine. Search results and ads are provided by Bing, which is from Microsoft.
You navigate in the app with the buttons at the bottom of the screen. According to Ecosia, the search engine is privacy-friendly and surfing behavior is not sold to commercial parties. Ecosia does, however, collect search results to improve ‘how the search engine works’. After a week, the search results will be removed, the company promises. In the settings of the app you can indicate that you do not want to be tracked at all.