Step one: Install Ecosia onto your browser.
Step two: Do HEAPS of searching tomorrow.
Step three: Have thousands of trees planted on your behalf.

If you haven’t heard of Ecosia before, it’s the world’s largest not-for-profit search engine that uses revenue from ads to plant trees around the world. Ecosia currently funds the planting of a new tree every single second. That’s a lotta trees. 

Since launching in 2009, the legends from Ecosia have supported tree-planting projects in 15 different countries, and have just announced their first project in Australia, with aims to help restore bio-diverse hotspots that were badly affected by the ongoing bushfires. 

For the entire 24 hours of Thursday 23rd January, 100% of profits from all Ecosia searches will be invested in planting trees around the Byron Bay Shire. Get Googling… or is it Ecosia-ing?

Ecosia’s partnering up with the Aussie tree-planting organisation ReForest Now to start planting trees in Northern NSW from next month. The focus areas for restoration are Wilson’s Creek, Nightcap National Park and Mt Nardi. 

Large parts of Australia have been burnt out by the fires

The Co-Founder and President of ReForest Now, Maximo Bottaro has said, ‘Our vital partnership (with Ecosia) will increase the resilience of Australia’s rainforests, which, make no mistake, are under threat from climate change.’

The prediction is that with the funds raised, at least 20,000 trees will be planted. But with a huge global push to encourage people to increase their use of the search engine tomorrow, there’s hope that up to 50,000 trees may be funded. 

With the local expertise of ReForest Now, over 100 different species will be planted, making the area more resilient against future fires, providing native animals with homes again and increasing rainfall. 

Hannah Wickes, CMO of Ecosia has said ‘This new project allows us to plant trees that will not regenerate naturally following the devastating fires, it will also prioritise native and endangered species under threat. We’re hoping for a record day of searches so we can overshoot our target of 20,000 trees substantially. This would allow us to build forest corridors that connect remaining patches of rainforest.’

For locals in the Byron Shire and surrounding area who are keen to get their hands dirty, there’ll be community tree planting days in the coming weeks. 

Keep your eyes and ears peeled on Friday, for the official announcement of how many trees will be planted. 

In the meantime, install the Ecosia app to your phone and download the Chrome or Firefox browser extension to help do your part for the cause. Just Google it!…then Ecosia it.