Green Drinks Bloomington promotes sustainability

Members of the Bloomington community gathered at Upland Brewery on Wednesday to discuss green movements.

Green Drinks Bloomington, a networking event with focus on environmental issues, is a monthly social event that is currently active in 630 cities worldwide.

The Bloomington crowd included a mixture of residents, environmental and business professionals and IU professors.

In a casual atmosphere they were able to discuss and share ideas about making a greener world.

Bill Brown, director of sustainability at IU, was the featured speaker of the night.
His talk focused on highlighting the progress of sustainability at IU.

“If Midwest were a country, it would rank No. 4 in the world in terms of carbon emissions,” Brown said, while highlighting the climate change action of October.

Brown continued to emphasize the areas that need to be improved to make a greener campus.

Brown said campus-wide efforts improved IU’s score from a C+ to a B- on the College Sustainability Report Card issued this year.

He said some of these efforts include rescuing 832,000 tons of electronic waste from going to landfills and encouraging energy and water conservation among students living in residence halls.

Brown said the future goals for IU are to decrease carbon footprints on campus by 80 percent by the year 2050.

He said this would be possible by doubling the amount of trees on campus and making existing buildings, such as the Indiana Memorial Union, more energy and water efficient.

Amanda Shaw, the organizer for the event, said that Green Drinks brings different members of the community every month from students to Bloomington residents interested in local grown food. Shaw said the event started in Bloomington in February.
“We were looking for the best idea to attract the most people and be the most fun,” Shaw said.

Loren Stumpner, a building contractor, said he often attends Green Drinks.
“It is informative and inspirational,” Stumpner said.

Even though the event usually has a good turnout, Green Drinks also welcomes spontaneous walk-ins or people bringing friends.

“I often come here with a friend, who enjoys coming here and meeting people with similar interests,” said Melissa St. John, a regular attendee of Green Drinks Bloomington.