Ecosia - The Search Engine That Plants Trees

Here's a website that truly makes knowledge bloom: Ecosia, a search engine that uses most of its revenue to support tree-planting projects around the world.

Founded in 2009, the Berlin-based service says it gives 80% of its search profits to help plant indigenous trees in Brazil, Morocco, Tanzania, Madagascar, Burkina Faso and other countries where conservation or reforestation is particularly needed.

The numbers are impressive: Ecosia says that, to date, it has been midwife to nearly 155 million trees. Currently, their partners are planting one tree every two seconds, with a goal of reaching one billion trees within a few years.

It's a glorious concept, but as the search is free, where does the trees' benefaction come from? Ecosia's listings are provided by Microsoft's Bing, which also furnishes the site with advertisements.

"If users click onto these adverts, Bing receives money," Shannon Smith, an Ecosia founder, said. "Part of this money is paid to us. We also offer special links, known as EcoLinks. These lead to retail websites. If we're the reason why a user accesses such sites and orders something from them, we receive a commission."

The site was created by Christian Kroll, now Ecosia's CEO, while taking a multi-continent trip. Kroll first tried to set up search engines in Nepal and, later, Argentina, to support local projects. But technical and other limitations prevented those first efforts from flying – in Nepal, electricity was available for an average of four hours per day – so Kroll brought his inspiration back to his native Germany.

Since then, Ecosia says, it has invested over 9 million euros (about 10.2 million US dollars) in planting trees, and currently has some 7 million active users. The site is accessible within the United States and can easily be added to most browsers.

Add that the company is carbon neutral, and you don't need to search for more reasons to give Ecosia a try.

--By Julie Sabatino