Review: Is Ecosia a Legitimate Company? Are They Really Going to Plant Trees?

Plant trees while you're on the internet! That would be amazing, wouldn't it? You don't have to do anything other than use the search engine, and you'll be helping Mother Nature at the same time. You're going to search the internet anyhow, so why not help the environment while you're doing it?

On the other hand, you aren't the first person to squint in confusion while reading it. The whole idea seemed to be a little too good to be true. Let's take a closer look at Ecosia to see if they're a reliable company.

Ecosia in Its Purest Form

So, just what exactly is Ecosia? To put it another way, it's a free search engine that generates revenue from adverts. This ad money, on the other hand, is used to plant trees, with a significant amount of it going to tree-planting organizations. Nothing is required to be installed. Save the Ecosia site to your favorites list and continue browsing the web as usual.

So, what services does the company provide? First and foremost, they vow to contributing at least 80% of their ad revenue proceeds toward tree-planting projects. They also claim total transparency by disclosing proof of financial support. They ensure excellent search results. For its searches, Ecosia use Bing technology. Ecosia enhances this technology even further by employing proprietary algorithms.

They also guarantee that they will always be completely CO2-neutral. Your searches on Ecosia do not result in any carbon emissions.

So, Can They Be Trusted?

The Better Business Bureau has accredited Ecosia.org as a B Corporation. As a result, Ecosia is a for-profit organization. The "B," on the other hand, alludes to Ecosia's certification by B Lab, a non-profit organization.

There are a few things that come to mind that they could do to try to mislead users if they wanted to, such as:

• They are not planting the trees that they claim to be planting.

• Collecting user data for resale or other privacy concerns

• For their own gain, they provide deceptive search results.

• With their browser extension, they illegally monitor your data.

The main worry here, I believe, is that they may not be planting the trees they claim to be planting. Ecosia claims to have planted over 100 million trees by 2020.

While this is significantly less than the 1.5 trillion trees required to offset the carbon we've deposited in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, it's still no laughing matter. After all, Ecosia is still a small company with only 8 million users (although this is growing really fast).

This isn't something we can analyze in terms of deceptive search results or data acquisition. However, given the Ecosia team's track record, I'm confident they aren't out to deceive people.

Ecosia, on the other hand, has been slammed by a few websites, including an article from 2Spyware that alleges Ecosia is a browser hijacker and borderline malware.

While you can't really disagree with 2Spyware's charges, keep in mind that what they allege about Ecosia also applies to Google, Bing, Yahoo, and any other search engine you use.

Ecosia, they say, may hijack your search results and put advertising... We're attempting to pay for trees here, so that's exactly the purpose! But they do it in the same way that Google displays advertisements in search results; the difference is that instead of planting trees, Google distributes the money to its investors.

They even discuss "getting rid of the Ecosia virus," which I find absurd. This article looks to have been written by someone who has never used Ecosia and was told to write about Ecosia being a virus in order to increase search traffic.

While I feel the charges made against Ecosia are false, I also acknowledge that they may be true, just as Google could be a virus.

My advice is to look into the Ecosia team and see whether they're someone you'd feel comfortable committing your internet data to. Personally, I am not concerned about an ecosia.org virus.

Several people have written in to ask if Ecosia is a complete fraud. Many individuals want to know if there is an Ecosia Snopes article that can back up their claims. In this article, I'm attempting to fill those shoes and more.

It usually comes down to the four points I described earlier, but many folks who write in are unsure if the extension will function at all. You'll see in the next paragraphs that, whatever else you can say about Ecosia, their product is undeniably real, so I feel we can put that to rest.

Why Should You Use Ecosia?

Ecosia claims that every 30 seconds, the company helps to plant a tree. It's a considerable amount, equating to nearly 3,000 trees per day.

Users are encouraged to conduct additional searches by a counter in the top-right corner of the page (and thereby plant more trees). A single tree will be planted after around 45 searches. It's a wonderful feeling to know you helped plant a tree. The best thing is that you don't need to donate any money; all you need to do is bookmark and search the page.

Are they going to actually plant trees?

Ecosia therefore contributes to tree planting. Many trees have been killed in recent years by bushfires and forest fires around the world. The most recent inferno in Australia has been raging for months.

Trees absorb CO2 while also creating oxygen. They are a critical tool in the fight against climate change. Trees also aid in the reduction of soil erosion and the absorption of pollutants in the air. Forests also help with the ecological and hydrologic cycles. Trees are critical to our tiny blue planet's survival.

As a result, by planting a few trees every few days, you may be able to contribute to raising worldwide awareness in this area. The best aspect is that it doesn't take much effort to make a difference.

Ecosia is fantastic!

Ecosia currently lags behind Google in a few areas. Your level of dedication to environmental conservation will influence whether or not Ecosia remains effective. If we don't want our grandchildren to grow up in climate-controlled glass bubbles, we'll have to start making lifestyle sacrifices sooner or later.

What I've decided to do is make Ecosia my default search engine, and if it doesn't return the results I'm looking for, I'll utilize the fantastic shortcuts that a friend mentioned.

I'm hoping that Ecosia expands its powers in the coming years so that I won't need to use Google at all.

I'm afraid that if a person isn't prepared to give up a little of their search engine's functionality for the sake of the environment, what else will they give up?