Google statistics show they process roughly 3.5 billion searches for people each and every day. This accumulates to around 1.2 trillion searches annually. The things people are searching for range from cute cat pictures to fetish style porn. However, a nonprofit organization in Berlin has created a way for people’s nonstop clicking and searching to help save the world’s forests.
The search engine “Ecosia” is an unusual search engine that does something that no other search engine does. With the advertising revenue that it generates, the nonprofit spends that money on the environment. It uses the money to plant more trees throughout the world and to bring more plants, animals, and water to areas which have endured drought. When trees are brought to desert areas, they are able to help regenerate the water cycle there. This eventually brings vegetation which, in turn, filters the air, produces more oxygen, and reduces disease.
With the money that Ecosia has raised so far, they have been able to help plant more than 6 million trees all across the world. They’ve also donated millions of dollars to European and African forestry programs. By 2020, Ecosia wants to plant at least 1 billion trees across the world. The Sahel desert has already begun turning back into a forest because of Ecosia and their effort.
(Photograph: Joël Tettamanti and Bertrand Trichet)
via kombini
