Think Tank Idea – Eco search engine

February 5, 2021 | | | 2 comments

The Think Tank was launched as an online “idea box” on the intranet in October 2019. In the first year, 27 ideas were raised of which 36% were implemented across the business.

Last October, Think Tank committee members Claudio Toledo and Jasper Van der Wurff provided a progress update via a town hall. Watch it here now.

One recent idea came from Stephane Baudet who suggested that we use an ecological search engine. Read about his idea here.

Here’s what Stephane has to say about why he raised the idea :

 
French version :

« En ces temps particuliers, nous sommes nombreux en télétravail et, dans ce contexte, nous avons la chance de conserver notre capacité de communiquer et d’interagir via les systèmes de communication informatiques.

Bien entendu, ceci est aussi vrai dans notre vie privée.

Par contre, l’impact environnemental de cette amplification des communications en distanciel ne peut être ignoré.

Ayant toujours eu un respect particulier pour la nature et le souci de la dégrader le moins possible par ma propre existence, je me suis demandé quel pouvait être mon moyen d’action.

En échangeant avec mes enfants, il est apparu clairement qu’un des moyens était d’utiliser des canaux construits par certains précurseurs et ceci justement dans le domaine des communications et stockages informatiques.

Ainsi j’ai découvert Ecosia, un moteur de recherche aussi pertinent que notre fameux Google mais ayant l’avantage d’être associé à une démarche environnementale qui a fait ses preuves.

L’idée est très simple : Chaque recherche contribue à la plantation d’arbres dans diverses régions du globe en respectant des règles botaniques et éthiques éprouvées. Je vous invite d’ailleurs à visiter leur site.

Globalement, 1 arbre est planté toutes les 45 recherches.

Dans un premier temps, je l’ai adopté pour mon propre usage.

Mais, dans un deuxième temps, il m’a paru évident que la force de ce genre d’action réside dans le nombre de personnes adoptant ces nouveaux réflexes.

C’est pourquoi je l’ai proposé dans le Think Tank de Colart. Après vérification par nos collègues de l’IT, ce moteur de recherche est effectivement pertinent et peut être utilisé par Colart dans son ensemble.

Plus on sera nombreux à s’y mettre et plus nombreux seront les arbres plantés par Colart.

Je remercie par avance le Think Tank de Colart si cette proposition peut contribuer à planter une forêt quelque part sur cette planète. »

 

English version :

“In these special times, many of us are on home working and, in this context, we are fortunate to retain our ability to communicate and interact via computer communication systems.

Of course, this is also true in our private life.

On the other hand, the environmental impact of this amplification of remote communications cannot be ignored.

Having always had a particular respect for nature and the concern to degrade it as little as possible by my own existence, I wondered what could be my means of action.

By talking with my children, it became clear that one of the ways was to use channels built by certain precursors, and this precisely in the field of computer communications and storage.

So I discovered Ecosia, a search engine as relevant as our famous Google but having the advantage of being associated with a proven environmental approach.

The idea is very simple: Each research contributes to the planting of trees in various regions of the world while respecting proven botanical and ethical rules. I invite you to visit their site.

Overall, 1 tree is planted every 45 searches.

At first, I adopted it for my own use.

But, secondly, it became obvious to me that the strength of this kind of action lies in the number of people adopting these new reflexes.

That’s why I featured it in the Colart Think Tank. After verification by our IT colleagues, this search engine is indeed relevant and can be used by Colart as a whole.

The more of us get involved, the more trees will be planted by Colart.

I would like to thank Colart's Think Tank in advance if this proposal can help plant a forest somewhere on this planet

 

So, if you’re keen to see your online searches converted into tree planting, then why not change your default browser to Ecosia? Go to https://www.ecosia.org/ and follow the instructions on how to add Ecosia as an extension to Chrome. Plus, find out about the 118,993,584 trees that have been planted by Ecosia users.

Did you know there is a page dedicated to the Think Tank on the intranet?

Click here to check it out.

Since the Town Hall, 12 new ideas have been raised that are currently being reviewed.

A big THANK YOU to those who have contributed, including :

Thierry Collot
Stuart Cooney
Ros Fetnaci
Stephane Baudet
Ajita Chamberlin,
Jvgenij Fiodorov,
Jon Holland
Jake Kersey (on behalf of the International team)

AND if you have an idea, big or small, let us know by submitting your idea here.

 

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