Behind the Green Scenes
For a green-themed event, the May 29 Green Drinks at the University of Hartford was a black tie affair. The white tent on the West Hartford university campus was laid out more like a college graduation party than an environmental event, with several bottles of wine on ice and a plate of cut cheese and crackers. Attendees wore business casual attire, exchanged business cards and networked.
Describing the dress and décor might sound dismissive or petty. But, arguably, it was a sign of the evolution of environmentalism from fringe concern to mainstream business goal
"If they had this event a couple of years ago, everyone would have come in Birkenstocks and Volvos," Nathan A. Nunez said.
Nunez, the marketing director of Northeast Lamp Recycling, an East Windsor company he said was "green before there was green." They recycle lamps and light bulbs, offering ways to deal with potentially toxic materials like the mercury in energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.
He said it was important for his company to attend events like this to exchange information. Despite the interest in green products and practices displayed both by consumers and by businesses, there are still a lot of faulty assumptions out there.
"I remember watching television when [television network] NBC 'went green' for a week," Nunez said. "They planted a tree — because it was supposed to be green, you know — and they poured bottled water on it."
The Connecticut Business and Industry Association was one of the co-sponsors of the Green Drinks event. The CBIA's involvement indicated that the underlying spirit of the event was a sense of marketing and business savvy, not moral high-mindedness.
"We're not doing this out of any sense of obligation," CBIA spokesperson Nancy Andrews said. "This is completely market-driven. We have customer surveys that show that the market is demanding this."
United Technologies Corporation also sponsored the event. Had the event been more activist-based, UTC's environmental history might have kept them off the roster: They paid $5.3 million to the Federal government for environmental penalties in a 1993 settlement. The company rehabilitated its reputation since then. They are founding members of the Pew Center for Climate Study's Business Environmental Leadership Council and have been at the forefront of research on fuel cell and other energy efficient technologies.
The Green Drinks event was organized by Heather Burns-DeMelo, the president of GreenScenes, a Connecticut-based environmentally-themed event planning and marketing business.
This was the second Green Drinks event coordinated by Burns-DeMelo, and like the earlier event at Hartford's Real Art Ways, attracted dozens of people. Previously, Green Drinks was organized by Connecticut Forest & Park Association Executive Director Eric Hammerling. Burns-DeMelo said Hammerling's background with non-profits brought in people from the nonprofit world, and that her business and marketing background attracted another group of people.
"We bring people from all different sectors into a common space," Burns-DeMelo said. ¦
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