Do Green Good Every Time You Search the Internet

jplatt — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:00:00 -0400

My brother works for a small theatre, and they get some of their funding from an unusual source: a search engine.

Like some 59,000 other non-profits -- including hundreds of environmental organizations -- my brother's theatre is signed up on GoodSearch, a search engine that generates income for organizations with every search.

Here's how it works: You visit GoodSearch and first do a search for a charity that matters to you. You could pick the WWF, StopGlobalWarming.org, Bat Conservation International, or American Forests to name just a few. Once you find the charity you want, click verify. After that, every search you make on GoodSearch generates a donation for your chosen charity.

The funds come from advertising on search results, the same formula that has made Google a multi-billion dollar company. But GoodSearch donates 50% of its search revenues to charities and schools. The company estimates that every search sends 1 cent to a charity. That may not seem like much, but if 100 people support a charity and search just one time a day, that sends $365 a year to that charity.

(And if you're a web power-user like me, and you search a few dozen times an hour for your work, the donations really add up!)

GoodSearch's search results are powered by Yahoo, the number 2 search engine, so they're pretty reliable. And for charities, the funds are like found money.

Give it a try! Who knows, you might never Google again...

The Greenest Cellphone Company in America: CREDO

jplatt — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:00:00 -0400

How happy are you with your current wireless provider?

No matter how you answer that question, you might want to check out CREDO Mobile, the self-described "greenest phone company in America." While CREDO (formerly Working Assets Wireless) doesn't have coverage across 100% of the U.S., it does provide one of if not the most environmentally friendly alternatives out there, and the company runs itself in a greener manner than anyone else.

For one thing, CREDO donates 1% of your charges to "progressive" nonprofit groups, including such green causes as the Center for Biological Diversity, the Organic Farming Research Foundation and Greenpeace. CREDO and its parent company have donated $60 million since 1985, including more than $3.5 million just last year.

As a company, CREDO has also made some smart, green decisions. Their bills are printed on 100% post-consumer paper, and they have planted 2.5 million trees to offset their paper use. They buy carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org to offset both its company energy use and the cost of shipping its phones to customers. They have also committed to recycling old cell phones, and have collected 22,000 of them since 2002.

As for its customers, CREDO offers you a way to go greener. Right now, when you buy an LG 150 flip phone from them, they'll throw in a free Solio™ solar charger, which you can use to power your phone or just about any other portable device.

Think about all of that the next time you charge your cell phone -- or look at your bill!

green donations

Do Green Good Every Time You Search the Internet

The Greenest Cellphone Company in America: CREDO