I just learnt about the search engine Ecosia which claims to use its advertising revenue to plant trees. I was going through their website and they seem legitimate on the surface but I wanted to check if its bs or not before using it.
I just learnt about the search engine Ecosia which claims to use its advertising revenue to plant trees. I was going through their website and they seem legitimate on the surface but I wanted to check if its bs or not before using it.
Apparently they are legit. But it’s important to remember that this is the tiniest of tiny good deeds if you’re really concerned about the environment.
Yes, that’s obvious. But the cognitive fallacy of small gestures is a real issue, i.e. the problem of people changing their lightbulbs and calling it a day. Especially since there are things we can do that really do make a difference. For example, cutting down on red meat, dairy, and flying. Any one of those will have more impact than decades of using Ecosia.
Privacy is a better reason to use Ecosia.
Privacy? Ecosia literally forwards your information to Bing. They’re also behind Cloudflare.
So we’re running out of reasons to use it. Personally I find the “planting trees” USP to be a potentially risky gimmick for the reason outlined above, but that is just my perspective.
Didn’t they just sign a deal with a European privacy company?
Yeah, Qwant. Their own index plus bing. Information is still sent to Bing, plus Qwant.