Wednesday night, Green Drinks Bloomington, an environmentally-focused group that meets monthly at Upland Brewery Co.’s Banquet Facility, hosted a panel of four local environmental organizations.
“It’s a chance to do some socializing with like-minded people,” said David Mann, one of the evening’s speakers.
Green Drinks is a monthly event where Bloomington citizens interested in the environment gather to talk, network and drink. It occurs in 671 cities across the world, from Austin and Salisbury to cities in Azerbaijan and Indonesia.
The evening’s speakers were Wendy Anderson, the Sassafras Audubon Society’s secretary; Audrey Moore, the Indiana Forest Alliance’s administrative and communications coordinator; David Mann, an advocate with Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Katrina Folsom, Sycamore Land Trust’s communication director.
Each speaker had about five minutes to give an overview of his or her respective organization’s mission, projects and community involvement. A Q&A followed.
Folsom spoke about the Sycamore Land Trust’s local grassroots conservation efforts, in particular the Beanblossom Creek Bicentennial Conservation Area, which became a government-protected area last year.
Anderson shared the Sassafras Audubon Society’s work conserving birds and nature through environmental education, field projects and public outings.
Mann spoke about the Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s proposal to implement a fee on carbon emissions. Moore discussed IFA’s Wild Indiana Campaign, which will work to set aside forest land in order to protect biodiversity and promote outdoor recreation.
Moore said she likes the interactive aspect of Green Drinks, which encourages people to speak rather than simply listen. The networking opportunity also allows citizens to collaborate on projects and support each other, she said.
“Rather than someone talking for an hour, there’s audience members working on similar things being able to talk about their shared projects,” she said. “I see how much of what we’re doing really overlaps.”
Green Drinks Bloomington began in 2008 and was created by Bloomington citizens Marcia Veldman, Amanda Ray and David Gulyas. Veldman said Ray and Bloomingfoods manager Ellen Michel told her about the worldwide “non-movement” at a party. Veldman got excited, and soon organized the first of Bloomington’s own Green Drinks meetings.
Since then, more individuals have joined the leadership team, including Carol Gulyas, who helps with social media. She said the structure of the event has proven to be successful — presentations are shortened to allow as much socializing as possible.
“It’s a real nice formula,” she said.
While summers usually mean an older crowd, Carol said she has noticed an increasing number of young people in the last few years.
Veldman, who is the state coordinator for the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, said the event has the potential to be “a life changing experience.” She has known people to find jobs and join groups as a result of attending one of the monthly gatherings.
“It really gives me hope to be in a room full of people who care about taking care of this planet,” Veldman said.
