So you’ve been reading the blogs on Change Tomorrow’s World.com and you’re thinking: this is great, we’re making the world a better place, but wait – how is it we’re making the world better, again?
Here’s an easy enough way to start. There is more than one search engine out there, and forestle.org is one that should greatly interest you. Forestle donates its income to an organization dedicated to protecting rainforests. That means that the next time you’re making a search online, all you have to do is type in “forestle.org” and you’re one step closer to preserving rainforests. Rainforests house millions of unique species and contribute to cleaner air – that’s what’s in it for you, and you hardly have to deter from your usual activities in order to help out.
- Credit to Forestle
Forestle.org got its name from the word “forest” as it is a “green Internet search engine”. (Source) Every person who uses Forestle saves about 100 m² of rainforests every year.
How am I saving rainforests by using Forestle?
Forestle uses its advertising revenue to protect rainforests and thus counter global warming. Forestle earns advertising revenue when someone clicks on a “sponsored link”, which appears next to the results Forestle provides for you after a search. Forestle uses 10% of this income to cover administrative costs and donates the other 90% to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt An Acre program. The Nature Conservancy is known around the world for its dedication to protecting the environment.
However, clicking on sponsored links for the sake of helping or conducting artificial searches does not benefit Forestle.
Save the rainforest, save the world
The money generated by advertisements on Forestle is enough to save around 0.1 m² of forest per search. The average person conducts 1000 searches a year and 5% of searches involve clicking on an advertisement. That’s 50 searches, which generate enough money to save 100 m² of rainforests every year, thanks to something as simple as your choice to type in “forestle.org” every time you want to perform a search.
Every month, Forestle posts a report online so that you can see how much rainforest has been saved. So far, Forestle has preserved more than 1,834,101.3 m². Woohoo!
Why protect rainforests?
Stop global warming: The destruction of tropical rainforests is the second largest cause of global climate change. If that’s not enough to convince you, please read on.
Animals: For some animals and plants, the rainforest is their only possible option for a home. Rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on the planet and contain two thirds of the Earth’s wildlife species.
Trees: One hectare of tropical rainforest may house 200 tree species while one hectare of regular forest is likely to have only 10 to 15 species. Trees are necessary to our survival. And they’re beautiful too!
Medicine: Did you know that 1 in 4 pharmacy purchases from countries like Britain contain an ingredient that came from a rainforest? Rainforest plants have qualities that fight cancer cells and hopefully can be used in finding a cure for cancer.
Water: Rainforests contain lots of moisture and billions of people depend upon their water to live.
Us: Rainforests aren’t just homes to animals and plants; people live in them too.
(Credit to source)
You already have the power to brighten our future, and you don’t even have to leave your home. Just visit “forestle.org” the next time you conduct a search and you’ll be saving the rainforest – and all of us, who depend on it.
By Marisa Baratta
Blog Writer 2009-2010, Change Tomorrow’s World
