Use Chrome extensions Ecosia + Tab for a Cause to reforest the planet and raise money for charity

Ecosia

Ecosia is a search engine (similar to Google) that invests more than 80% of its profits into planting trees across the globe.

Imagine you can help plant trees by searching the web as you normally would, but instead of using Google, you use Ecosia. Amazing, right? The podcast How to Save a Planet went after this initiative and they validated that's all real. Ecosia is having a positive impact on the world and we can all assist by simply using their search engine. Other highlights:

• Ecosia is powered by 200% renewable energy using their own solar plants. They produce more renewable energy than they need and they add the extra solar energy into the grid, helping accelerate the energy transition away from fossil fuels.
• Ecosia makes money through advertising inside their searches (same as Google) but they're very transparent about their income and investments. They publish monthly financial reports showing how much money they made from searches, and what percentage of their revenue went towards trees.
• Ecosia respects your privacy. They don't create user profiles and all of the search terms are permanently deleted within a week.
• Ecosia is a Certified B-Corp, which means they are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.

Sounds good? Install Ecosia's Chrome extension and search directly from Chrome's search bar.

Using Ecosia will bring the same results as Google more than 90% of the time. However, since Ecosia doesn't track your searches and it doesn't create a "filter bubble", some times the result will differ (which is a good thing in most cases). In case you want to use Google from time to time, you could setup Tab for a Cause and set Google as the default search.

Tab for a Cause

Tab for a Cause is a Chrome extension that raises money for charity every time you open a new browser tab. They're also quite transparent with their financials and you can see their quarterly reports here.

Combining Ecosia and Tab for a Cause into your normal web browsing flow is a great way to help initiatives that are making the world a better place. And it's almost effortless!