This Tuesday, July 27, the Ecosia search engine is launching a dedicated initiative for the preservation of trees through the campaign "Ecosia Wildfire Relief." The principle? To transfer all the profits from web users' searches this Tuesday to the fight against the fires which have been taking a toll on forests in Australia, Brazil and California.
Have you been considering trying out a socially engaged search engine? If so, this Tuesday, July 27, may be the right day to get acquainted with Ecosia, a non-profit search engine that dedicates its profits to tree planting. Why now? Because the money generated by internet users' queries will be entirely channeled to finance the protection of forests in Australia, Brazil and the United States.
"This wildfire season is shaping up to be even worse than last year, with fires raging in forests around the world," outlines Ecosia on its Instagram page. The summer of 2021 is indeed already off to a devastating start in this regard.
The spotlight is particularly on the United States. Since mid-July, California has been experiencing one of the most devastating fires in its history: the Dixie Fire, which started in the forests of northern California, has already decimated an area of vegetation equivalent to the city of Chicago. Meanwhile in Oregon, a coastal state located in the Pacific Northwest, the Bootleg Fire has been raging for three weeks.
A few months earlier, an alarming study revealed that the Amazon forest now emits more carbon than it absorbs. A phenomenon linked to numerous deforestation actions, a large part of which are related to the production of beef and soya.
In addition, there are fires caused by major drought episodes, amplified by global warming. As in January 2020, Australia is again facing bushfires of unprecedented duration and magnitude.
Elsewhere in the world, drought episodes are also leading to major fires. In the past month, the Canadian province of British Columbia, like the western United States, is facing record heat and forest fires are twice as frequent this year as in 2020 at the same period.
While Europe has been affected by major episodes of flooding, some southern countries like Italy are not spared by drought and fires. In Sardinia, a major fire broke out in the last 24 hours and led to the evacuation of a hundred people.
Described as an "unprecedented disaster" by the governor of the island, Christian Solinas, this fire is being fed by hot southwest winds, making it difficult for firefighters to extinguish. The region has declared a state of emergency.
This Tuesday, July 27, a major forest fire also broke out in Greece, at the foot of Mount Penteli, in the northern suburbs of Athens, firefighters and local authorities told AFP.
