Dear class:
Here Week 6 Group presents to you the Environmental Blog. Similar with treehugger.com, it discusses environmental issues. However, it focuses more on specific hot topics such as sustainability, energy, global warming, etc., instead of general and broad topics. It defines itself as an "environmental justice, human rights, green tech, green living, and sustainable online news magazine". You can also interact with the blog by sending over your own article and hopefully it will be posted on the blog someday!
Please browse through this blog and we do hope you can find something interesting. You are also more than welcomed to compare this blog with treehugger.com and tell us which you prefer and why. I think this will greatly benefit us when we write our own blogs. We do hope you enjoy this blog!
Week 6 Group
Kelsey Gerber, Michael Daugirdas, Alley Fisk, Meng Dong
I started reading an acrticle "PORTLAND STARTUP MAKES ENERGY EFFICIENT WINDOW UPGRADES" I found it interesting because of the new technology companies are coming out with to conserve energy. This article promotes this new window by showing a picture of the difference before and after the window insertion. The links of the company are posted multiple times so people will want to click on it and learn more. Statistics are given to prove the point of how many people in the country are not conserving energy and who are the biggest consumers of the new windows. THe article also gives examples of how it is beneficial such as decreasing traffic noise and decreasing bills.
ReplyDeleteThis website was what I would typically imagine when I think of a blog site. It had many topics that are relevant to the environmental movement and very informative. I read the post entitled "MYSTERY BIRD DEATHS: WEATHER OR POLLUTION?. It described the mysterious death of hundreds of birds in the town of Beebee, AK. The author went on to discuss possible reasons for these mass deaths which included pollution and different weather factors. This post interested me because it involved animals and I am a life long animal lover. However, I found little else about the site interesting. In comparison to treehugger.com, this website hit much harder on important environmental issues, although treehugger.com had a huge variety of topics that could spark interest in all kinds of readers, especially those who do not know much about the environmental movement.
ReplyDeleteI found an article called "Food Inc. Review", which uncovers shocking facts on the manufacturing process of food. The writer picked some intriguing aspects to discuss how those food manufactures and companies related fail to respect workers' human rights or provide healthy foods. In order to maximize profit, producers have been exploiting workers' labor and unable to provide agreeable working environment. Also, they ignore the quality of the products which jeopardizes human bodies. The article provides sufficient evidence for the food Inc. review and finally calls for individual actions to know their rights and protect themselves. I think it is really informative, but I am just a little scared of what I eat everyday.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed on this blog website was the artistry and the way it is set up visually. In the title you notice that the letters “enviro” of environmental are colored in a bright blue, contrasting the dark black of the rest of the title. Also there is a butterfly perched on top of those letters, which is something that makes you think about the beauty of the environment and is somewhat a stereotypical image of nature and the earth. The blog is colored in light blues and greens, reminiscent of the water and plants. There are also leaves placed sporadically throughout the page that are links to other pages. These items are all very subtle and make you think about the earth’s beauty. Another thing that stands out is the advertisements on the website and how they are all about environmentalism and promoting the green movement. All of these details make me wonder if the blog is really promoting the environment and going green or if it is just using the green movement and the commercialized image of it to promote its website.
ReplyDeleteWhen I open the Environmental Blog’s homepage, the first thing that caught my eyes is the logo on the left upper corner. The logo is “The Environmental Blog.org” with the letters “Enviro” and “org” colored into blue and green that go sharply against the base color black. The color blue reminds people of water, ocean and sky, whereas green usually indicates tree and life. These two colors are the basic pigments of nature, which corresponds to blog theme “environment”. However, the major part of logo is still dyed in black, implicating the severity of environmental pollution and trying to arouse public concern. Moreover, the logo designer creatively put a butterfly on letter “E”, which, not only makes the logo more vivid and lively, but also highlights the theme.
ReplyDeleteWell, after looking through the blog, I realized environmental blog had more issues on environmental issues compared to treehugger.com. The blog title "Five Cost-Effective Ways to Lower your Heating Bills this Winter" totally amazed me with it's ideas about the reduction of heating bills for a house. It provides every ideal details to appeal to the readers. Each of the solution to reduce heating bills were bolded to let the readers to focus on it.
ReplyDeleteThe Environmental Blog certainly appeals to people who are already interested in the environmental movement. Codie mentioned how Treehugger.com had articles more relevant to those that aren't familiar with the environmental movement. I think it is important to note how the blog's target audience only needs persuasive rhetoric concerning specific environmental issues. This makes the blog writers' lives a bit easier since they can focus on informing the audience about emerging environmental efforts and the result of previously existing ones. Without the stress of battling with people who don't accept their premises, the articles are able to focus well to complicate their topic.
ReplyDelete@Susan: That's really interesting you read an article like this because my major is interior design and we are constantly trying to figure out ways to save energy through things like the window upgrade you found. Thanks for sharing! I'll have to check that out.
ReplyDelete@Codie: Well, I'm glad you found the article about the birds since it relates to your personal interests but I'm sorry our site wasn't as informative as treehugger.com. I hope you enjoyed it somewhat.
@Meng: That is really interesting but doesn't shock me. Today, people are more worried about making money than paying attention to the bigger picture. In this case, it's the fact that the companies don't care how what we eat is processed but it definitely does make me weary about what I eat. I think all people should pay attention to this issue because most people are oblivious to the truth of how food is packaged.
@Heather: You make a very interesting point. But I think all blog sites, or websites in general, should have a layout that has to do with their website but I can absolutley see where you are coming from.
@Colleen: I'm glad you found appreciation in the details of the site and pointed out the little things that relate to the website's purpose. Very good description!
@YJ: I agree. The ways to reduce one's heating bill is very convenient and interesting. Especially for college students and people that may not have the highest income job could learn something from this and would really appreciate it. It's not only putting cash in your pocket but it's helping out the environment as well.
@Tyler: I think this blog site is more about how ways people can improve the environment by action, not as much as educating the readers about it. Maybe if someone viewed treehugger.com first it would help he or she understand the site we chose better if one was having difficulty.
To go along with what Heather and Colleen said, I believe that the setup of this blog is fantastic. The colors and overall look of the site are great. Moreover, I really enjoyed how this blog is set up, specifically at the very top where there is an area with five rotating stories that I would assume are the top stories currently. I believe that this is very eye-catching and it helps to draw people in to some of the important topics that this site wants to address. Finally, the abundance of pictures instead of just words on this blog makes it much more entertaining and fun to browse through.
ReplyDeleteSOLARIZE PROJECTS HELPING PORTLAND HOMEOWNERS GO SOLAR covers how portland homeowners are trying to conserve energy by using solar power as their main source of electricity. It is most likely not the the first place that have attempted to use solar power to conserve energy, but the fact that the average homeowners being able to save hundreds of dollars using solar powered energy is truly astounding. I am glad that there are more and more ways to get more out of less resources.
ReplyDeleteThe acrticle "Shorepower Unveils Level II Charging Station" is very interesting as it shows how level 2 power staions are being implemented as a way to fuel hybrid and electric cars. This artical uses a picture and recent developements in electrical vehicals to appeal to the readers. Statistics are also given and the stations are mentioned to be free multiple times, showing the effort put on going green. This also shows the emphasis being put on electric cars are charging staions are free when on the average day people are paying 3 dollars a gallon to fill up their tank.
ReplyDelete@Meng: It's interesting that you read the article about "Food, inc." I have actually seen this documentary before. The article is a good summary of the documentary. However, I thought that both were a little over exaggerated. When I saw the movie, it definitely used the rhetoric of the "scare tactic" on people to make them think that all of their food is contaminated and that the food industry is corrupt. I thought it was a pretty one-sided film. It had some good points, but it was almost humorous how obvious the rhetoric that was being used was.
ReplyDelete@Tyler: I also agree with you. Most people like visual references to play around with and find really entertaining. Reading articles can get boring. A change in layout is always positive.
ReplyDelete@Kevin: Like the window article Susan read, I think catches my eye because interior design is all about the concept of environmental design and helping nature. Solar power does just that even though it at first is expensive to get it installed. All in all, it would be worth it in the end because the electric bill will be much more minimal. I find interest in articles like this so thanks for sharing!
@Aaron: This is a really neat article. I think people today would really find this interesting since they have to spend, like you said, over three dollars a gallon on gas. I also believe electric cars should definitely be marketed and emphasized more in this time. I think people are hesitant about getting one because they are an expensive purchase. The free charging stations are awesome. If people knew they had access to that, maybe more would buy one. This subject should be promoted more since car pollution is a huge factor in the problems nature faces (not trying to bring up global warming, just pointing that out). Hopefully people read this article and see the alternatives in transportation. Thanks again for another interesting article.
I got the passage named "mystery bird death, weather or pollution". When I saw the title. I thought a lot about the End Day in 2012. After watched the movie 2012, lots of people would think whether this prediction will come true. As we know, the prediction initially come from the Maya, whose civilization is highly developed in old time. In these years, big abnormal changes have happened to our home. May sometimes we convince ourself that the day is coming with those evidence. The government even do not tell us the truth for the steady of society. Who can stand out to explain something?
ReplyDeleteI read the blog about which tree is better to get: Artificial or Real. I never realized the con's of an artificial tree because that is the one we use every year. Things like a fake tree most likely to end up in a land fill and because of what it is made of it is not biodegradable and hurts the environment. Overall the only thing bad about a real tree is the transportation but the transportation wouldn't hurt the environment so basically a real tree is the best way to go when it comes to Christmas and the environment.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at this blog I noticed how different it was from treehugger.com. Although both blogs focus on the enviornment specifically, the treehugger blog is not as colorful and the category set up is not as easy to find like the enviornmental blog. I read an article titled recycling water. The title alone interested me because I did not know one could recycle water. In the article the author just discussed how recycling water is beneficial not only for the enviornment but is also serves useful functions for agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial processes and even tiolet flushing.
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ReplyDeleteI also read the article titled “Artificial Christmas Tree or Real?” which presented the pros and cons of each options consumers face each Christmas season. This blog brought to reader’s attention that there really are no cons to buying a real tree every year, that in actuality, Christmas tree farms are many times beneficial to the environment. Many tree farms replant 3 tree seeds for every one they cut down and since the trees are grown for the sole purpose of being cut down, the harvesting of the trees does not contribute to deforestation. Artificial trees however are not biodegradable and most times end up in landfills emitting harmful chemicals. The blog does a good job of informing the reader of information one might now ever really think about, considering most people only think about how having a artificial tree saves them the chore of going out and finding a nice looking tree to bring home and then having to dispose of it. Also, since artificial trees are an investment that you can keep around for a few years most people don’t think about the harm disposing of them causes. The first thing you see when viewing this blog is a large picture of beautiful looking fresh green Christmas trees. The blog also offers other articles one might be interested in viewing after reading this article at the bottom of the page. The general color scheme for the website seems to stick with black blue and green, very earthy colors which relates well to the title of the site. The website title also highlights “Enviro” in blue font from the word environment which draws emphasis to it when compared with the other bolded black font.
ReplyDeleteI also read the article, "Artificial Christmas Tree or Real?" Even though Christmas has passed I chose this article because I have always wondered if it is better for the environment to buy a real christmas tree every year or use a reusable one. Before reading this article I thought it was worse to cut down a tree every Christmas, however this article says otherwise. First off, the article states that this holiday tradition is not considered deforestation because the tree farms are built for the purpose of cutting down. Also it is easy to think that the artificial trees will last forever, but eventually they will get worn down. The problem with throwing them out is that are made of chemicals that are not biodegradable. Unfortunately they will emit hazardous carcinogens while sitting in the landfills. So from now on I am going to make sure my parents cut down their own tree even if an artificial one is easier!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first opened this website, I wasn't surprised very much. Even though the design is different, the concept is similar to other environmental blogs we have seen in the past. There is a variety of issues and the authors are commenting on them regularly. So, doing what I always do, I picked an article. I read an article titled "The Arctic Ice Melting". The article introduces us to a new fact about melting ice. Scientists have found that sea ice sheets support land ice sheets, and when land ice sheets are not supported, they melt much faster. This discovery is not helping the many island nations and coastal cities in the world. The author of the article, however, provides some hope by stating that somebody (probably the Dutch) will engineer their way out of this developing catastrophe. The emotional appeal in the article works well in supporting the cause because the reader is concerned about fellow humans living in the islands. Lastly, the author asks for audience thoughts and comments, which I find very beneficial to stimulate discussion. This also encourages people to voice out their opinions on the issues. Overall, I found this article very engaged with the global warming issue and this website very useful to keep up with environmental issues.
ReplyDeleteI read the article "Green Streets Initiative"
ReplyDelete(http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2010/10/green-streets-initiative/) Since sustainable development has long been a discussive topic all over the world, the Green Streets Initiative Program developed by the city of Portland provides a good idea of sustainable inner-city development. This program is really good because it is not only efficient but also cheap and can improve the environment. I think many cities can learn from Portland and also develop a green street program to improve the environment and reduce the cost of stormwater runoff. Since the blog is created to talk about the environmental issues, I think the author here also wants to encourage the audience to come up with other ideas about sustainable development with low cost but high efficiency.
I read the blog entry "Recycling Water". In the entry it discusses the ways in which companies recycle different types of water such as water that comes from sewage and other waste. This water is used in toilets, lawn-watering devices etc. I find it interesting, that even though water recycles itself, humans, being as controlling as they are, just had to find a way to turn this natural cycle and make it man made. the water cycles does the same thing that this technological way does it, except it is slower. All in all, i guess this method of recycling water is a good thing because it ensures a steady and full water supply.
ReplyDeleteI read "Oregon May Shutdown Boardman Coal Power Plant Early". Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality wants to Portland General Electric to operate with less production of pollution and shut it down by 2040. However, Portland General Electric wants this new rule to be removed with no rule on the amount of emissions produced but will shut down by 2020 permanently instead. This allows the pollution produced to be cut down by 20 years which will obviously help the environment a lot. But because it will permanently shut down, the workers there will be out of jobs. Is this trade off worth it? Is making the world a cleaner place worth making hundreds of thousands of people jobless? How will they make a living?
ReplyDelete@Chao: I think the 2012 theory is outrageous but I can definitely see how you related this article to that. It would be interesting to see how many people actually think this may happen.
ReplyDelete@Tim, Sarah, and Rosie: I get a real tree every year and with what information you found, I will definitely make sure my family continues to do this every year. People don't realize what chemicals are used to produce anything they put in a landfill because obviously the company isn't going to tell them that their product is made with cancerous chemicals. Hopefully one day, they will be required to either change what they use to produce their product or at least give a list.
@Nia and Michael: I think this is really interesting that this is even done. I really didn't know how this was done either. But technology changes every day and people do anything to keep it in their power to control the advancement of how something is done so of course they are going to find something like this to create. Very interesting!
@Rishab: I hope since people's lives are possibly in danger that they figure out a way to fix this issue as soon as possible.
@Tingting: I'm just curious, what does this program consist of? Recycling? I know you mentioned storm runoff. How is this reduced?
@Ming: You make very strong remarks at the end. I think people should look at the big picture and consider everyone that is going to suffer from the change.
I read an article that was related to the devestating earthquake in Haiti last year called "What You’re Not Hearing About Haiti (But Should Be)". I want to first start out by saying how much I enjoyed this website and its layout. It was easy to navigate and pleasant on the eyes. Just looking through other articles you could tell how neutral they were on these subjects. They weren't there to take a position on these issues rather just inform people. Anyway, the article I read was about why the country of Haiti was so poor and because of their living conditions the earthquake affected them a lot more than it should have. It talked about how the US was using Haiti as sort of an experiment in economics. The US tried to facilitate Haiti into a basically export-only kind of country. It ruined the country side and over populated the cities and most importantly impoverished the country. If this is true I can not agree with what the US is doing. I liked the site and the material that was in it.
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