In the world of search engines, one reigns supreme: Google. With the tech giant capturing 86 percent of the search engine market, it’s hard for others to compete.
But that hasn’t stopped one tech-for-good company from recently entering the American market.
Ecosia is a Berlin-based search engine company that reinvests more than 80 percent of its search ad revenue into tree-planting projects around the world. Currently, the company plants one tree per 50 searches.
“Rather than just funneling [revenues] into endless shareholder growth, we can funnel it into tree planting and help solve climate change,” said Ruby Au, head of Ecosia North America.
Since 2009, Ecosia, founded by Christian Kroll, has planted over 100 million trees. The company has 1.6 million users in the United States and 15 million users worldwide.
Through search ad revenues, the company funds 38 tree-planting projects in 25 countries including Peru, Indonesia and Senegal. Trees are not donated to these countries; instead, Ecosia sets up service contract relationships with community partners who plant the trees. These partners have to meet strict tree-planting milestones based on a timeline provided by the company.
Now, Ecosia is gearing up its presence in Boston. The company’s Ecosia On Campus initiative, in partnership with Boston University (BU) and run by Christopher Park, is a grassroots movement that aims to make Ecosia the default browser on university campuses worldwide.
To bolster awareness of Ecosia among BU students, Park has added a shortcut to the search engine on all BU computers. Through his efforts, Park has planted 2,000 trees with Ecosia at BU.
Due to security concerns held by the university, Google remains the default browser on BU’s campus. Park is trying to change this. He’s also starting an informational campaign to educate the student body about the search engine.
“I think people should give it a try before deciding not to use it,” Park said. “I know that it's different from Google. And some people have a very strong attachment to their Google search engine. But it can have such a large impact over so many people... I haven't gone out and planted trees; I haven't personally raised money to plant trees. Nonetheless, 2000 trees have been planted because of convincing other people to download the search engine.”
If you’re wondering why this European company chose Boston as its launchpad, there are several reasons. First, Ecosia wanted a city with a large student population since most of its users are under 30 years of age. Second, based on the company’s research, Bostonians are conscious of climate change and its effects on the environment and future generations. Third, Boston is a city that drives culture—businesses like to start in the City Upon a Hill before expanding across the country.
The goal of the Ecosia On Campus initiative is not only to replicate the success of the BU chapter at colleges and universities nationwide, but also to get more students involved at existing chapters so more trees can be planted.
“I think the purpose is to try to show much of an impact students can have,” Park said. “When you make it a campus-wide [search engine], it really shows the power that you have as a large collective to plant tens of thousands of trees a year.”
Emma Campbell is a contributing writer for BostInno.
