Green Daily

Alright, who spilled the beans to the Environmental Protection Agency that teens like the Internet?

Now they've gone and come up with a website to try to appeal to teens. And so far, it's not working.

I'm not quite sure what the EPA was trying to do here. On the homepage, it states that the site will help teens to make "environmentally sound choices" in their daily lives.

...Yawn. Okay, so now that the EPA has completely scared kids away from the site...Other issues? The font is small and difficult to read. The site contains too much white space, too many large blocks of boring text, and is lacking in bright colors and graphics.

Sadly, there are some great tidbits of information on the site, but they are buried several pages in, and not worth searching around for. Plus, the site navigation is awkward and difficult to maneuver.





The weirdest part? The site features environmentally-themed games. Right away, this should set off a red flag in a teenager's mind: educational "games" are typically dull, painful and not fun in the least. The EPA games are no exception. They seem haphazard and poorly thought out, and they target all different age groups: The quiz is challenging but painfully boring, both in content and appearance. The crossword puzzle is dull, and the "Enviro Boarder" game might be good for a five-year old...but definitely not a teenager.

The only site feature that might be remotely helpful to high school students would be the "careers" section, which links to internship/job sites and lists colleges (only four, though) that offer environmental programs.

Overall, the site seems unfinished and poorly thought out. In order to get teens' attention, you have to offer something that your viewers want - coupons for free stuff, potential scholarships, Flash-driven graphics, a Facebook application - anything! It's great that the EPA is attempting to get teens involved and becoming socially aware and environmentally conscious. But they're not going to get anywhere with a site like this.