Ethical search engine donates to animals in refuges

Google may be the search engine of choice for many and the likes of DuckDuckGo and Nice-based Qwant offer alternatives that do not store data.

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Now there is another choice – and it lets you help animals while you search.

France-based YouCare, which launched last May, donates a meal to animals in refuges.

Tens of thousands of users of the search engine have helped provide nearly 85,000 meals to refuge animals at 15 shelters across France, with more joining the scheme every month.

YouCare said that users can provide one meal for every 45 searches they make – paid for out of advertising revenue it receives – which averages at a meal a week per user.

It also prides itself on being carbon-neutral. Every month, it cancels 100% of the greenhouse gas emissions (GES) from its servers and activities in its building by funding a part of GoodPlanet Foundation’s carbon offset programme.

It can be installed as a default search engine on most PCs and Macs using Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

It can also be downloaded on to smartphones.

YouCare is not the only internet search engine with a social conscience.

German-based Ecosia has planted more than 52million trees in return for user searches, while Lilo in the US has raised more than $200,000 to fund social and environmental charities.