We spend every day on our screens, looking up things, scrolling through social media, etc. so what if you could plant trees with every search you do? Didn’t know it was possible? Oh, but it is! Each time you search with Ecosia, a tree is planted. Ecosia users have planted up to 131,832,190 trees in places all over the world, including places hit by climate disasters like wildfires.
But, is it legitimate, you ask?
Yes, we at the Sustainable Navonmesh have done the research for you and these trees are changing everything! Some of the harshest places on Earth can be planted by your searches. In Burkina Faso, they turn the desert fertile again. There is hardly a place more at risk from climate change than Northern Burkina Faso and Sothern Mali.
By planting trees here, desertified land can be returned to its former fertility, violent conflicts can be curbed by creating employment, nutrition can be improved through agroforestry, and communities are inspired to take charge of their future.
They plant a new tree every second across 21 reforestation projects around the world. And thanks to people using Ecosia for their everyday searches, they have planted up to 50 million! A canopy of 50 million trees means 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 removed from the atmosphere. It means 60,000 hectares restored. Additionally, over 500 native tree species were planted.
Ecosia also has a blog with all the details of its impact on its environment and also a podcast, which you can listen to on Google Podcasts and Spotify.
But enough about Ecosia. What makes trees such a valuable resource? We all know that trees give out oxygen, but if that isn’t enough to convince you, here are three reasons why trees are important.
Trees help provide clean water. Life is all about water- for animals, plants, and humans alike. A tree’s roots extend very deeply into the ground. As the groundwater shoots up, the plants absorb the water and filter out harmful particles. Tree species may even break down pollutants typical of urban soils, such as metals and pesticides. But trees also absorb rainwater, which brings me to the second reason trees are awesome:
Trees help us regulate our climate. As a tree absorbs water, some of it evaporates through its leaves and then mounts up to the sky. This moisture gathers into clouds which then come back to the Earth as rain — and that's the water cycle. However, trees also play a role in regulating the climate in other ways.
For example, by taking in CO2 from the atmosphere, storing it in biomass, and then releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere with photosynthesis. So, basically, trees ensure that it rains regularly, and they also absorb CO2 and other gases out og=f the air, which helps regulate the overall temperature. Actually, trees are just saving you some air conditioning costs! And that’s not even a joke. During the summer, trees strategically placed on the south or west side of a house or building will help reduce the heat inside. And in the winter, those same bare trees will still allow light to go in so you don’t lose that free heating.
To our third fact about trees — or, forests, to be more precise. Nearly 80% of life on earth exists in forests. Animals, big and small, depend on healthy forests, which provide them with the nuts and plants, and fruits they need to thrive. We humans, too, depend on them. In fact, around 200 million people are directly dependent on forests for their existence. That’s because the forest provides us with a wide range of products from berries, mushrooms and herbs, spices, oils, cork, etc. The value of these forest products multiplies once they are processed. For those of us living in urban areas, which is about 55% of the world population, forests are proven to provide us with psychological and emotional benefits.
Additionally, trees ensure that our cities don’t flood. In the mountains, we wouldn’t have any roots to absorb the excess rainwater if there were no trees. All the things we need to survive- water, oxygen, a cooler climate, and the basis for life itself, are all provided by trees.
Thank you for reading and if you’re not yet searching with Ecosia, do make the switch and help us plant more of those life-supporting trees!
Here are the sources for your reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1AVgbI_1r0
https://blog.ecosia.org/
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