How many times do you hear people say “I’ll just Google that”?

In fact, they are searching the internet for some information. But the influence of Google is such that for many, googling has become the verb that describes searching the web.

Are you happy that corporate influence has extended that far? I’m not, and there is a very effective way to strike back.

Ecosia is a search engine that uses it’s profits to fund planting trees around the world. Trees, the carbon dioxide extraction system that actually works.

Ecosia are remarkably transparent in their way of working. In March 2019, they had income of €986,525 of which €440,038 was spent on tree-planting. They make their money from paid advertising, just like Google search. You can add an Ecosia extension to Google Chrome browser (the irony) which means that when you type in a search, the search is made on Ecosia. The results are good and you help to plant the trees the planet needs.

Visit https://www.ecosia.org/https://www.ecosia.org/

You may be a photographer, a painter or a choreographer, but fundamentally you are creative. The same creative force is manifested in different ways with different outcomes, but comes from the same place and needs similar nourishment.

I recently came across Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit, Learn It And Use It For Life. For anyone seeking to get the most from their creative life, it is indispensable.

Tharp is a highly successful choreographer whose job is to create dances. She writes about how to maintain a creative mindset, how to find inspiration when it’s difficult to find ideas, how to be constructively critical of oneself and how to handle the bad times.

It’s a relatively quick read and it should probably be referred to again and again, whilst both seeking inspiration for a project and running it.

It’s a valuable and readable manual for creative people to keep being creative. And it does have genuine application across the arts. Tharp is a choreographer and musician, she draws on the experiences of painters, photographers and writers.

I’m happy to recommend this book to anyone who wants to lead a productive creative life.