Blog Reviews by Bloggeries

In today’s energy and environmentally conscious world, blogs supporting the environment are cropping up all over the blogosphere.  The blog known as The Green Theme is one of those blogs and is a blog supporting products, technology, and the environment.  The Green Theme Blog is dedicated to promoting awareness of global warming and giving real, practical tips on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. You can see this for yourself when going through the most recent bloggeries: Are We in a “Clean Tech” Bubble?, What Would you do if You Found a Million Dollars on the Beach, Make Your Own Bag, SPIN your Yard into a Farm, Fill Up Your Tank With Algae, and Adopt a Wild Salmon Fry to Save a Whale.

The blog is very well laid out in a simple and clean template which lends to its ease in navigation.  Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a very simple right sided navigation system.  Bloggeries are in pale blue text on a darker blue background, and the overall theme to the blog is in blue, which I found interesting given the name of the blog.  In the right sided navigation system you will find RSS information, a blog calendar, Categories Menu, Archives Menu, and Blogroll.   The Categories Menu is comprehensive and offers the readers categories in line with the theme of the blog such as Recycling, Enviro Notes, Energy, Cleaning, and Eco Building.   There are no advertisements on the page except a compelling video promoting the 2008 Earth Hour, which took place on March 29. Not only is this advertisement very well done but it also provides some history on the event, including that it started in Sydney in 2007. This is just another way that the site promotes awareness surrounding global warming. The video is also a nice addition to the other images on the page, of which there are many. The images are all very relevant to the bloggeries in which they appear and also make the site more aesthetically appealing.

This blog gets a 2.4/5 at the time of the review with some suggestions towards tweaking.  The activity definitely needs some work as in many cases, a month will pass before the blog is updated.  The blog appearance is very well done and in a clean template which makes the blog easy to look at, however the color scheme makes the blog difficult to read. I would suggest darkening the text or enlarging the font as this very light text is a strain for this reviewer’s eyes. I also think the appearance should be more in line with the focus of the blog, and a blue blog that is called the Green Theme Blog does not make sense to me.  The navigation is simply laid out, which adds to overall navigation, however some main elements of blog navigation are missing such as Recent Posts Menu or a Comments Menu.  The blog’s about page is also located at the very top right hand corner of the blog, and I think it could use some more visibility by being placed in the navigation system.  Further, about the About page, I think it would behoove the blogger to provide some information as to the ‘why’ of the blog as opposed to simply personal information about himself. Overall however, the blog has a great foundation and an interesting concept that is relevant today and with just a few changes, the blog could see a tremendous amount of success. I want to give it a 3 but I can’t with it’s current activity scores.

-Chrissie
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In this day and age, eco-friendly and global warming are very quickly becoming household terms. With that, many people will find The Conscious Earth blog very interesting particularly if they are inclined to swing politically on the matter. On this blog you will find earth-centered news for the health of air, water, habitat, and the fight against global warming. The author of this blog is 32 year old Odiyya who hails from Vancouver, British Columbia. You can read about his passion and prepare to be inspired through his most recent bloggeries: Canada faces lawsuit over Kyoto Failure; Canada to accept nuclear waste; Whale dies from ‘Old Age’; Leaders to agree to aspire to stop global warming; Think Tank calls for an end to Green Taxes; A victory over Iceland Whaling; Western States, BC and Manitoba join in Climate Goal; Think CO2 is ‘Just Plant Food”? Think Again.; The 11th Hour Opens Tomorrow; and Airplanes Automobiles and Emissions.

You will find navigation on this page very simple. Posts are right marginalized and there is a left navigation system. Posts are black text on a white background using a politically themed header from blogspot. Each post contains either a relevant picture or video to accompany it, giving the content an even greater appeal than it already has. In the left navigation system you will find the About page, a feed burner that currently holds 336 readers, Top Posts menu, Email Subscription link, Advertising Butons such as ‘Click for the Forest’ or ‘Vote for Me’, a list of great sites including ‘Inconvenient Truth’ and Real Climate, a Must Reads menu, Archives going back to May 2006, Headlines from the Blogosphere where related blogs can add their feed, Blogroll titled ‘Earth Conscious Friends’, and a series of Blog Buttons for science blogs and Top Science Blogs. I do note that there are labels on each post, but there is currently no Categories Menu associated with the blog.

I will go with a 3.5/5 for this blog and note that it is probably the activity hurting the score for the blog the most right now. Posts are currently ranging every couple of days to weekly and I think more frequent updating would make this already popular blog even more so. These posts score well for content as they all contain excellent quality writing that speaks to the readership in a moving, inspiring way. I would also recommend that the blogger maximize his About Page to connect with the readers a little bit more. I also think a Categories Menu would benefit this blog’s navigation, as this blog is such a unique niche with so many elements that Categories would organize the concept as a whole that much better. However the blog is doing very well judging by its active and full feedburner and regular comments. With this I might suggest the blogger consider monetizing the blog a little with some advertising or AdSense as I would guess he would do very well with it. Overall however I think the blog is doing very well and is available to the readership and public at a very timely season and given this, it will more than likely see continued success.

-Chrissie