What if you could quietly make the world a better place, just by going about your every day routine? 

Thanks to a Berlin-based, non-profit company, you can with Ecosia, the search engine you never knew you needed.

What's this? You ask.

Ecosia.

A free search engine that plants trees every time you search, using ad revenue. 

How does it work? 

You search. They plant. 

Ok, it's almost just that simple. Download and install the free browswer extention (I have mine added to Chrome and Safari both here and for my work at the college). Then go back to searching "can we deport Justin Beiber" or "Net Neutrality". 

Ecosia uses the proceeds from their ad revenue to plant trees around the world, where we need it most to fight climate change.

*This gallery contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through and give the product a whirl, I get a tiny fee for spreading the news at no extra cost to you. This helps me offset the enormous amount of time that goes into Compost & Cava.

Is this real? 

Yup. Ecosia is has been a certified B corporation since 2014, but was founded in 2009. To date, they have planted over 17,156,000 trees.

That HAS to be too good to be true. You scoff.

I thought the same thing, when the College of Charleston first introduced me to it. 

But they seem to run up against this question a lot, but they believe in full financial transparency so here, read their financial reports.

Or read about them on Wikipedia. Or Scientific American. Or Inhabitat. Or HuffPost UK. 

And you know what's really going to blow your mind? The entire business is carbon-neutral. 

Ok, sure. So where are these trees? 

Here, they have a whole map for that.

Now stop asking questions, and read their FAQs. There's even a personal counter to keep track of YOUR individual impact! I've racked up over 200 searches in the last couple months, which feels great. 

Why haven't I heard of this? You demand to know.

What are you using now? Google? An American company? That has successfully edged out the competition? 

Let's think about this for a minute, y'all. *rolls eyes*

Just do it, already.

The world is a beautiful place, and this might be the easiest way to help save it.

I've been using Ecosia for months at CofC, and for a while now at home as well. It just makes you feel good that even your random late night "baby sloth video" searches are doing something productive. 

Now, back to searching "How to Save the Internet."