Make Search A Vehicle For Good

What is the problem?

• Currently, most schools use search engines such as Google or Bing.
• These engines are functional and deliver the expected results, but there are some key downsides to using these:
  • Privacy
    • Google and Microsoft have poor privacy practices and track records. And their terms of service do nothing to help reassure us about this. (Google, Microsoft)
  • No impact
    • Neither Google or Bing make any major efforts to have a positive impact on society. They make large profits which are then retained within the companies.

Is there a solution?

• Yes, there are other search engines that can deliver equivalent result qualities, whilst using their earnings to make a meaningful impact on society.

Ecosia

• Ecosia is a search engine dedicated to planting trees around the world. For every 45 searches made across their platform, they fund the planting of 1 tree.
• They have recently surpassed 200M trees planted, and have made their pledge legally binding.
• In terms of terms, they’re performing better than Google and Microsoft.
• Ecosia also runs their servers on renewable energy, ensuring that they minimise any climate impact to the maximum.
• They are comitted to donating 100% of profit to climate projects, meaning they go above and beyond their tree planting pledge with other projects
• They have extreme financial transparency - just take a look

In 2021, Ecosia was actively planting trees in the following countries

• Ecosia is easy to switch to, and provides guides for organisations looking to switch here
• They also enable organisations to track their impact easily if they would like to track their overall impact.

Who’s using Ecosia?

• Some notable organisations that are using Ecosia include:

OceanHero

• Whilst Ecosia is the big player, they’re not the only option.
• Instead of planting a tree every 45 searches, OceanHero removes around 1 plastic bottle worth of plastic from the ocean with every 5 searches.
• How does OceanHero work?
• They are also involved in education about plastic and the construction of recycling plants.

How easy is it to use?

• Both Ecosia and OceanHero are very easy to configure as default search engines.
• For individuals, it can be changed in your browser of choice without any real effort.
• For organisations, this guide makes it easy for most setups.

What are the risks?

• For OceanHero, less is known and I cannot personally provide much insight.
• However, for Ecosia there are effectively no risks.
  • Results
    • Ecosia uses results sourced from Microsoft and Google, meaning quality should be equal to those provided by the standard search engines.
  • Performance
    • These days, Ecosia is massive and can easily handle all searches, there are rarely any technical issues and it is unlikely that any major problems will occur.
  • Privacy
    • Whilst search engines can access a lot of personal information, Ecosia is generally considered more trustworthy than Microsoft or Google, and their Terms of Service provide more robust protections to users.