Ecosia–A Search Engine that Protects the Planet By Planting Trees

A month ago I decided that caring about the planet would include switching my search engine. As a New Year’s Resolution, this one is exceptional because it’s so easy to keep (as opposed to say, losing ten pounds). I did something to help the planet before I even had to flip the first page of my new calendar.

But I waited until now to blog about it because I wanted to see how it worked out in real life–you can only learn so much by researching in advance. And speaking of research, this is probably the best single site I’ve found that weighs Ecosia’s pluses and minuses: https://www.patharoundtheworld.com/ecosia-review/. It shows some of the financial reports and gives info on trees planted.

I really like planting trees. Along with picking up trash and recycling, it’s one of the most concrete things I can do to help the planet. I’m old enough that I distrust things that are long on rhetoric and short on results. A lot of it just seems to be talk, talk, talk, along with expensive fundraisers that end up with way too much money going to “administration.” But a tree planted is something you can actually point to and measure its worth over time. And while I don’t feel that switching my search engine is an adequate substitute for personal physical effort, it’s a nice addition to what I’m already doing.

Apart from the whole planting trees thing, which was really enough by itself, Ecosia does something else I’ve been meaning to address for a while–it makes your search info harder to access. They state that they destroy all records after 48 hours and that they never sell your online information. I’d been using Chrome (owned by Google) for quite a while because I like how easy it is to use, but I’ve been trying to silence my misgivings about the online privacy pitfalls. Okay, I don’t do anything I need to hide. But still. What I do and what I look at is nobody’s business, and we shouldn’t let it become the standard that personal info like this should be available to any major corporation that wants it.

After using Ecosia instead of Chrome for a month, I found my online browsing didn’t actually change much, at least in terms of user experience. I still access access the internet by pressing my little Chrome icon. I like that there are fewer ads when I run searches, but so far, that’s the only thing that’s actively better than using Chrome. I do miss being able to type in a word and have it automatically give me its definition, but having to add the word “definition” to my search and needing to take the additional step of clicking a link are acceptable drawbacks for the other advantages.

And in case you’re wondering, I’m not affiliated with Ecosia in any way. I don’t receive any financial benefit from promoting them. I just get to live on a planet that has more trees. : )

If you’re interested in adding Ecosia, you can sign up here: https://www.ecosia.org/.

And if you’re a cautious type like me and want to know how hard it is to undo something before you try it, you can find that out here: https://www.how-to-remove.com/ecosia-org/.

Let’s all plant a bunch of trees. : )

About cathleentownsend

Avid writer and reader of Faerie tales and noblebright fantasy.