Amanda Spargo
English 101
Bleck
Due: May 12, 2008
Green Peace
Every single day people use wood products such as tissues, toilet paper, and napkins, made from forest trees that have been un-conservatively cut down. The issue of forest preservation is just one of many that Green Peace addresses. The Green Peace organization is well known throughout the world and has a peaceful demeanor of how it goes about trying to improve and conserve the environment. However, just because Greenpeace is well known does not mean that one should not view the articles they read on their website with a skeptical eye. In the book UnSpun Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, there is a section in chapter seven called “Due Diligence”. Due diligence means that the reader of that website should look up a few things about the website to answer a few basic questions. By doing this the reader will have a better understanding of where the information comes from and will be able to better decide its validity. The Green Peace website should not just be blindly accepted, but should be looked at questioningly to verify its validity.
The first question one should ask themselves when looking at the Green Peace website is “What’s their reputation?” According to Wikipedia.com Green Peace is an organization that focuses on environmental issues using methods of nonviolence, lobbying, research, and innovation. Green Peace is known for its protesting on environmental issues and its nonviolent methods of getting the message across that people need to make a change to save the environment.
The next question to be asked about the Green Peace website is “Who’s paying?” On the homepage of the website, on the top left hand side there is a link called “Make a Donation.” After researching to see if there were any other big financial supporters, none could be found on the site. Wikipedia.com says that the organization is supported through “the individual contributions of an estimated 2.8 million financial supporters, as well as from grants from charitable foundations.” By knowing this we can look at the website and not wonder if there is a bias twards the big financial supporters such as oil companies, because the organization is financed by individuals and not companies.
The third big question to ask when questioning this website is “Who are the people?” This question can be answered by looking at the “About Us” section on the left hand side of the home page. The people in this organization are volunteers and activists from all around the world who help with the work of Green Peace. This section also gives the history of how Green Peace was started and provides a link to become a member and also a link to make a donation.
The graphics and colors used on the Green Peace homepage give the viewer a real feel for nature and the environment. The format of the page is an inverted “U” with colums along the right and left side of the page with a broad picture across the top of the page. In the canter of the page are big pictures of billowing smokestacks and one with two polar bears. There is a lot of the color green, which makes sence seeing as their name is Green Peace. Overall the site is very user friendly and has high interactivity. The site shows about all aspects of the organization and what they are there for. There is not an abundance of information in the “About Us” section which some might interpret as the organizations way of trying to hide something. I don’t think this is what is happening because they are so widespread across the world with so many volunteers and activists that they could not have pin-point specifc information about every person.
The Green Peace website is a fairly accurate portrayal of the organization it represents. By using the guidelines from Jackson ans Jamieson one is able to verify the truthfulness of the information presented on this website. By asking simple questions about its origins and background and doing some simple research, one can find the validity of almost any website and be confident in their findings.