Green Drinks News January 2012 Happy New Year to you all!
I believe we are really entering a phase where there is a widespread desire amongst people to connect and act, and that Green Drinks is a particularly valuable resource because it is agenda-free and inclusively welcoming. The environment sector has always been very fragmented, with thousands of different groups and issues, and an overwhelming amount of data and complexity. So the random coming-together of people can actually be a very effective way for people to reach into the topic and to use the magic of face-to-face discussion and networking to connect and be inspired.
As always, please let me know any cool ideas for how to make Green Drinks even more successful. Let's make 2012 another great year ...
Cheers! Edwin Datschefski, Green Drinks International
Making a Real Difference
It's always hard to quantify what direct benefits Green Drinks brings, but we all know it is a force for the good. So it's lovely to hear about the tangible effects.
For example, Trish Riley in Gainesville writes, "Thanks for the interesting news! I should write up something for you about our Green Drinks Gainesville.... we've spawned a lot of very interesting green activities! I had the local Environmental Protection director speak about a downtown superfund site, and some members of the audience, who didn't previously know about the site, organized a citizen's action group and got a $50K grant from the USEPA to help keep folks informed! Also, the idea for my Cinema Verde Environmental Film and Arts Festival was born at a Green Drinks meeting, and now i'm working on my third festival! Our town loves green drinks - we co-hosted with a local business innovation group last month and had 125-150 people there! Thanks for getting us going with your great idea! "
Great Minds Think Differently
I have a look at the Logos Page the other day -- wow! What an amazingly creative bunch of GD Organisers you are! They are professional-looking, witty, picturesque and locally-relevant. Just what I had in mind when we decided GD should be as logo-less as possible centrally and let each city develop their own identity ... http://www.greendrinks.org/Logos
  
  
MadMimi in Metuchen
Joe Schaffer writes, "Great Newsletter! I do have to throw in a plug for MadMimi, which is similar to (maybe cheaper than) MailChimp but has a great affiliate feature. For-profit businesses in town support Metuchen GreenDrinks through this program, which credits our account and let's us operate our newsletter basically for free so we don't have to levy a cover charge for our events."
GLT
Brighton West of Portland Green Drinks writes: "Edwin - I love this newsletter. I'm wondering if you can tell me (or share in the next newsletter) the story of how Green Drinks started. I've heard it and try to tell it, but I never remember the name of the pub (so I call it "something like lettuce and tomato."). The real name would be nice."
Thanks Brighton! I think L&T is funnier but the actual pub was The Slug and Lettuce in Islington. You can read the whole story here: http://www.greendrinks.org/Press
Some Tips from Washington State
Jaime Forsyth of Bremerton GreenDrinks gives us a nice overview of how their Green Drinks has been doing:
"In Bremerton, where we're getting close to our 4th anniversary, and we have a different local business host each month. For $10, they get unlimited beer, wine and small plate/appetizer food made by a local caterer or the restaurant, if that's where it's being held. We get beer and wine glasses donated, and wine and food subsidized by the $10. We try and have a 10 minute speaker with a sustainability-related topic. We average about 70+ people but we've had well over 100. We provide professional-looking name tags for each of guests, who appreciated that small gesture of recognition and we are proactive in encouraging people to meet at least 3 new people each time. For some reason, some people need that extra push to either give themselves 'permission' to go up to a stranger, or to remind themselves to not just hang out with their buddies."
"Some of the places we've held it: Libraries, art galleries, historic Navy destroyer, marina breakwater (with yacht rides), two adjoining harborside penthouses, LEED Platinum office building, college campus, greenhouse, Naval Museum, rooftop of a historic building, historic Admiral Theater, a nursery (with plants, not kids), and the 3rd story deck of our local credit union, where the CEO reviewed every aspect of the credit union and rated it on how sustainable it was. The mayor and local elected officials are all regular attendees."
I wholeheartely agree about people needing a little extra push to break from their normal group and talk to new people -- but that's what Green Drinks is all about, so any more tips on this are more than welcome.
Plug In To The Future
It's a sign of better times that several Green Drinks have demonstrated actual, working, electric vehicles ... Like the Chevy Volt on display at one of Northwest Suburban, Illinois' Green Drinks.
'Exotic' Locations
Of course, where you happen to live is not exotic to you, but many of us love to hear about new Green Drinks being set up in far-flung places around the globe. For example, we have recently welcomed:
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Эрүүл мэндийн төлөө! (Erüül mendiin tölöö)
Guadalajara, Mexico ¡Salud!
Baku, Azerbaijan Afiyët oslun!
Video from Boca Raton
Quite different from most Green Drinks, this special Gala event in Boca Raton was a very classy do indeed ... Thanks for the link, Marci! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYsHR4v54oQ
Happy 2nd Birthday, Kiev!
Iryna Myronova celebrated 2 years of GD in the Ukranian capital, and I sent a little speech to be read out -- I wish I could go to all the Green Drinks in the world one day! Building on her success in Kyiv, Iryna is also running a Green Drink in Lviv. She says, "What I like about green drinks is the sense of a larger international community of like-minded people."
Junk Mail
Of course if you have an email listed on a web page then you have to expect some spam. That is why it's a good trick to list yourself at name [at] domain [dot] org as people can then type in the correct address and reach you OK, but auto-spammers don't see it as an email address and don't harvest it.
Be aware that there is another trend in that a few people have been manually harvesting some of your contact emails and sending you a promo email that makes heavy mention of Green Drinks. I just wanted to clarify that I nor Green Drinks have endorsed these communications, and would not do so in any case.
Video-tastic!
Finally, Joel Barrett and Mike Keen of South Bend, Indiana Green Drinks have made a really fun video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WfqCMmvLd8
That's all for now. Happy Green Drinking! Edwin Datschefski Founder and International Coordinator Green Drinks
ed...@greendrinks.org |
