Fellow supporters of the environment…

As I searched through the vast arena of the web, I found a few websites that would be considered competitors for the site I would like to produce. As stated in my previous proposal, my plan, along with my partner midnight hayes, is to develop a site that will promote a ‘greener’ lifestyle. I want to provide a guide for users who want to make the environmental changes in the world but are unsure of what they can do to help. While there are many adequate sites providing information about going green, we want to provide a new interactive forum targeting a younger demographic (18-30).

One site I found especially effective was earth911.com. This site proves to be a major competitor being that it is geared toward a younger demographic. The homepage is colorful and attractive with an interactive slideshow of the top featured stories. The logo at the top left ‘Earth911’ and its slogan “making every day earth day,” provides users an easy understanding of what this site offers. Its design uses the colors blue and green simulating the colors of a globe. It’s main objective is clear on the homepage: recycling is its main priority. At the top of the page, users can type in a recyclable item along with their zip code and be instantly directed to the nearest recycling facility. Promoting this simple process allows users to see how easy recycling is and that is what the site is trying to reveal. With articles such as “8 Ways to Reuse your Halloween Costume” and “8 Ways to Reuse your Jeans,” it is clear that this site is geared toward a younger audience. The titles of articles seem to be able to draw readers in. Users may comment on articles and participate in discussions, which allows them to become a valid contributor of the site. Earth911 developed an iPhone application called iRecycle attracting more users. The site reaches a wide range of users, but also creates a sense of community providing a local search engine to find information in specific towns. They use the 3 R’s to emphasize their purpose: reduce, reuse and recycle. The about us section tries to explain that a user’s experience on this site is more personal than others. Once again it is evident that the site targets a young audience stating, “We’re Earth911…jump on our bandwagon.” This statement seems geared toward the idea that ‘going green’ is trendy. This site seems to be doing everything right. It is easy to navigate, provides a huge amount of information, and provides a clear guide to making the effort for a more environmentally conscience world. While users can participate in discussions on the site, this may lead to a lack of credibility. Not all of the articles, within the site, were written by Earth911 team members. Some were written by college students and I was unable to find information on these particular writers. This makes me question the authenticity of these articles and it would help if there were a way to find information on these sources. Overall, this site has developed an essential guide to leading a greener lifestyle. It provides a forum for people to discuss crucial changes that need to be made in our environment. This site is a major competitor for my site proposal, which means I will have to develop a more inventive approach.

Another website is ctgreenscene.com. Being that it is a local site, it is another major competitor for our website proposal. The homepage presents a simple design adhering to a monochromatic green color scheme. It promotes the idea of going green in your local community. It creates a more personal experience than many other sites, gearing toward Connecticut residents. More specifically, it seems to reach out to family-oriented users, perhaps specifically, adults with children. With little outside contributors of this site, bios of the creators and writers are provided promoting a tight-knit community of adequate designers. It also provides evidence that this site is a credible source of information. Users may provide comments on the articles, however this does not seem to be encouraged seeing as they are rare. Unfortunately, this site seems to lack discussion, which negates its attempt of creating a true sense of community. The positive result is that there is a large amount of accurate information on the site. The homepage is visually pleasing, but scrolls down the page at a tediously long length. Each article uses a picture to attract users and the categories and archives of articles seem to be well organized. There is one huge fault with one of the links. When a user clicks on fundraising (which is a major component is creating an active sense of community) the user is navigated to a blank page. Overall, this site demonstrates an adequate competitor for my site. Establishing a local vibe, it provides the personal experience Earth911 may lack. However, it requires more of an interactive experience to keep up with other sites. Also, the homepage of articles should include shorter excerpts because it is unnecessary that almost the entire article is provided, and then the rest exists beyond the page. A few small changes could have a large impact on this site.

Another site “fighting the cause” is organicconsumers.org. The organic consumers association is a huge organization “campaigning for health, justice, sustainability, peace and democracy.” It is a non-profit grassroots organization reaching a wide audience. While its overall purpose does not create a direct competitor for my site proposal, it outlines an interactive online newsletter providing many green ideas as well as others. There is a vast amount of information on this site, especially on the homepage itself. Though it is somewhat wordy and overwhelming, it still remains visually aesthetic. Like ctgreenscene it uses a monochromatic green color scheme but the pictures and visuals placed allows them to pop out from the screen. The site remains very updated, and provides slideshows and videos to enhance the sites function. It seems to be geared toward well-educated adults interested in environmental issues in politics and democracy as well as health issues, social issues and food safety. It is organized as a news information site providing a lot of information linking to other sites and organizations. Created in 1998 the organic consumers association consists of over 850,000 members giving it astounding credibility reaching out to the entire world. Visitors of this site are most likely avid users supporting the association with their obvious participation. It is easy to become a member of the association and it can be followed on Twitter and Facebook. One of the site’s greatest attributes is its interactive forum for discussions. Members can voice their opinions and communicate with a wide range of active users. Visitors are encouraged to take a major role in effecting change, which is what users are looking for when visiting these sites. The site provides links for users to contribute to organizations and make donations to different causes. There is so much information on the site due to its large audience but it seems to be organized relatively well. Overall the site seems to be a powerful and effective forum of communication. Its design seems to encourage users to make changes and to support each other while doing so.

While these sites are considered competitors for my website proposal, I do not want to discourage users from them. Sites designed to promote a greener lifestyle are developed to encourage people to effect change. Therefore, as many sites as can be offered can help get the word out. Many of these sites support each other in the fight for a healthier environment and while I would like to offer a different perspective, I support any site with an innovative approach to doing so.