Source: Firefly_ AI Generated-An eco-friendly digital landscape with a large, glowing light bulb made of transparent glass.
Our living conditions worsen day by day as the repercussions of humankind’s actions come to bite us back in the form of climate change, pollution, and resource depletion. In such situations, it becomes necessary for all of us to come together and work towards fixing what is wrong with what we have right now.
Many people might find it extremely difficult to make time for adopting sustainable activities in their hectic schedules. But we can’t really make such excuses with the mess we are in right now. We have to do something soon before we regret it in the future. So, what to do? Maybe we can start with switching to better alternatives? Yes, this might work. Where to start? Let’s see if we can switch our search engines to something better.
Ecosia
Ecosia comes first in this list because of its direct impact on the Earth’s ecosystem. This is a very popular option too- you can find quite a few celebrities endorsing Ecosia on their social media handles.
The one thing people worry about the most is their privacy and they look for search engines which can maintain this privacy and is very secure. It can easily be added to your phone by downloading its app and to your desktop as well. There’s also the option to add it as a chrome extension to your already existing browser.
The reason why you should use this engine is easy- with every search, you are helping the guys at Ecosia plant more trees. According to their blog, some 120 million trees have been planted already with the help of their 15 million users. To be more precise, your searches generate revenue out of which 20 percent goes in investing in grassroots activism, renewable energy, and regenerative agriculture. The remaining 80 percent goes to planting and protecting the trees. Sounds like a good plan, no?
Ekoru
While Ecosia handles the trees, Ekoru takes care of our water bodies and aquatic ecosystem. Ekoru is our ocean-saving search engine which is also secure and eco-friendly.
Ekoru works with the help of revenue generated by ads. All you need to do is surf the net after installing this search engine and search for items from the web. Every item provides the funding for global partners which then clean up the garbage from the oceans. They also replant ocean seagrass.
A fun fact about Ekoru is that it is powered by hydroelectricity and hence, generates 4.4 grams less Carbon Dioxide in comparison to other search engines. This is also 1205 percent less than Google.
OceanHero
Another search engine which works for collecting garbage from the water bodies is OceanHero. OceanHero is quite similar to Ekoru in the way it works.
Its quite easy. You will start with installing the app/extension, then, collect shells which you will get while surfing the net, and as soon as you collect 100 shells, they will get the revenue required to collect one bottle from the oceans and seas. So far, the OceanHero community has collected and removed 32,506,976 bottles with the help of local communities from Haiti, Indonesia, and the Philippines. This means we get double profits- the ocean is cleaned and employment is also generated where its necessary.
Rapusia
Rapusia is another endeavor which is dedicated to making our search activities more sustainable and eco-friendlier. This can be used after adding its extension to another browser like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
It benefits its user by not disclosing anything about them and keeping all searches anonymous, not tracking, and not sharing information. It raises funds for the Tennis World Foundation and other global non-profit organizations. 50 percent of their collected revenue is used in maintaining the search engine and the rest 50 percent is donated for social and environmental benefit.
Goodsearch
Lastly, we have Goodsearch which is powered by Yahoo! and can be used as both an extension and as an app called Goodshop.
Goodsearch donates money every time the users use the net, dine out at local restaurants, or shop online. Using Goodsearch or Goodshop for these purposes can generate 0.01 dollars’ worth of revenue which is used for donating to charities. As of now, the searches on this engine have gathered more than 13 million dollars for donations.
All five of these extensions are very nice options for anyone to start with if they want to treat our planet better. Which one will you go for?
Resources
- Joshi. (2021, February 19). The search engine that plants trees: what’s Ecosia and how does it work? The Ecosia Blog; The Ecosia Blog. https://blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-search-engine/
- ‌ekoru.org. (2024). Ekoru.org – now you can clean the ocean from home just by searching. Www.ekoru.org. https://ekoru.org/
- ‌OceanHero – The search that saves the oceans. (2022). Oceanhero.today. https://oceanhero.today/
- ‌ 7 Eco Friendly Search Engines to Browse the Web and Save the World. (2022, August 27). Sustainable Jungle. https://www.sustainablejungle.com/sustainable-tech/eco-friendly-search-engines
- ‌ About us | Rapusia Blog. (2024). Rapusia.org. https://blog.rapusia.org/info/chisiamo/
- ‌ GoodSearch – Global Mission for Children. (2024). Globalmissionforchildren.org. https://globalmissionforchildren.org/resources/goodsearch/
