Click and Save…the Planet?

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Think about it: How many times have you Googled something today? Google is said to process more than 63,000 queries per second, or 5.6 billion searches per day. Well, what if there were a way to harness the power of all that Internet searching to benefit the world?

That’s the premise behind the alternative search engine Ecosia. It’s a certified B-Corp, using business as a force for good, and for about every 45 searches you do, they plant a tree. It launched a decade ago, primarily in Europe where it’s based, but recently more U.S. users—including our team at ProSocial—have begun to discover it. At the time of this writing, Ecosia users have enabled the planting of more than 66 million trees in various parts of the world, such as Africa and Indonesia. Bonus: In addition to protecting forests, the company also takes measures to protect users’ privacy.

Having worked on several impact campaigns related to the environment and conservation, we’re glad to have learned about this simple way we can take action, especially in the wake of the disheartening news of deforestation in the Amazon. In fact, in August, Ecosia reported that as a result of public attention on the fires in the rainforest, installs of its search engine increased more than 1000% in one week, and they have allocated additional resources toward Brazil.

We recently made Ecosia our default search engine, which you can do by installing it free as an extension to a web browser such as Safari, Firefox, or Chrome, or by going into your computer settings to make it your home page. (The search engine is powered by Microsoft’s Bing, and so far it’s been working well for us, though we still sometimes prefer to use Google when we’re seeking a broader array of shopping-related search results.) Scroll down on the Ecosia home page to learn more.