Green Drinks: Enviro-booze meets corporate sponsorship

Green Drinks -- a recurring social evening of environmentalists having drinks -- has always been a very chill, everyone's invited, come whenever and leave whenever sort of affair. That is, it was until last night, when Green Drinks got its first sponsor: smart® house.

Suddenly, you had to RSVP to get on the list. And if you RSVP'd too late, you were shut out!

No, guest lists aren't anything new, especially in LA. But they're new for Green Drinks, which is ostensibly about grassroots enviro-socializing and, less directly, enviro-movement-building. In fact, Barent Roth, the main organizer for Green Drinks, had no idea that people were being turned away -- until he got a very angry email from my friend Jeff, who'd been told the event was full.

And Jeff was one of the first people I ran into when I walked in -- which is how I first found out about the whole "sorry, no Green Drinks for you" dealio. Apparently, after his angry email about how Green Drinks had gone "all Hollywood," Barent contacted the smart people and got him on the list.

Me: That kinda sounds like a harsh email, dude.
Jeff: But Green Drinks has never had a capacity issue!

True that. Of course, Jeff's anger about the guest list issue seemed to dim a bit as we hung out in the swank smart® house, chatting over free drinks and free yummy appetizers. That's certainly the benefit of having a sponsor. Suddenly, you no longer have to pay for your drinks, and you have nice people in uniforms offering up platters of mini burritos and apple tarts.

Last night was a big sudden change from LA Green Drinks as we knew it. Basically, a couple years ago, Barent thought LA should have a green drinks chapter and started inviting people to come out on the first Thursday of each month. He sent out the emails, he updated the blog, he fielded the questions.

Then, more and more people started coming, and green drinks slowly started expanding to 4 different locations -- all started by enviro-volunteers who decided they wanted a green drinks happening in their hood. And Zach Behrens, soon-to-be new editor of LAist because the current editor Tony Pierce has signed up to be my boss, offered to help out sending the weekly Green Drinks emails.

But the bulk of the work -- including handling all the various emails that come in about event announcements to employment listings that get included in the Green Drinks emails -- still fell on Barent's shoulders. Which is why, whenever I talked to Barent, he'd float ideas about getting interns or sponsors to help out. Beyond being a major time sucker, Green Drinks does have some expenses -- like the cost of the email program that formats the newsletters and organizes the mailing list.

Which is why I'm sure smart® house's offer to pay for and handle everything sounded pretty damn good. Who doesn't like free booze and appetizers? Barent even managed to get smart® house to get organic beer and some vegan eats.

The downside of that: Free booze has this amazing effect of bringing people out to an event. Usually Green Drinks attracts fewer than 80 people. Last night, the RSVPs topped the showroom's capacity of about 300 people. According to Jaymie, who took the RSVPs for smart® house, about 25 people were told the list was full. Unfortunately, some of these 25 were long-time, regular Green Drinks attendees. Outspoken ones.

I talked to Barent about this last night; he cited growing pains, and said that at future Green Drinks, access for all will be a primary focus. The deal with smart® house was a one-time thing -- No one, including Barent, knows yet where the next West Side Green Drinks will be held.

Sponsorship's such a strange thing, don't you think? We complain about it, but we remain comfortably complicit in the system. Jeff gets upset about the fact of the guest list, but has no problem showing up and drinking up when he gets on it. Drew gets upset that an enviro-event's being held in a car showroom, but still RSVPs and gets pissed when he's told it's full.

The question is, do we really want a no-RSVP, no-sponsorship, no-car event? Or do we just get pissed when we don't make it on the list for free booze?

Comments

[markl]

Green drinks is a bit of an oxymoron dont you think?
Just another overly packaged,superfluous product that we dont need but uses a ton of resources for its production,transport and ending up in a landfill..
Tap water folks,its free and its contents safer or more regulated than other drinks.Buying a water filteris also is a lot cheaper than buying bottled water and drinks etc...

[Siel]

I'm totally with you on drinking tap / filtered water vs. bottled water, but why the hatin' on wine and beer and pretty much all other beverages beyond water?

[Drew]

wait....are you calling me a hypocrite...? ;)

[Summer]

Good wrap up.

I'd rather pay for my own martini and be able to chat with folks who are interested in talking about green issues. I think we can all donate a buck or two for administration costs as well.

Loved the Culver Hotel too, and I hope when it reopens we'll start Green Drinks back up there...

[michael]

It was a 'sponsored' event, so I think ... no problem ... that there is an rsvp list. But, why not have 'sponsored events' on other nights... not on the regularly scheduled green drinks night. Or, invite Smart House, Smart Car, whomever... to Green Drinks to do their gig... with some stipulations... agreements that ... Green Drinks is an open event... an always ... open event ...
Also...make Green Drinks public transportation/bike friendly...wherever it is being held.

[m]

"make Green Drinks public transportation/bike friendly...wherever it is being held"

I agree. That's why I don't go to the events that are semi-nearby.

[Siel]

Just for the record, I took the Big Blue Bus 2 bus to the smart house. It dropped me off just a block away from the event --

[Roger, Gone Green]

Well, maybe you could drink home-brew. . . that's something you can do even in an apartment . . . buy some fruit at the local farmer's market, et voila, local and organic. (Wicked grin).

Roger, Gone Green

P.S. And yes, we do make wine, mead, and hard cider at home each fall. . . in fact, think I'll pop down into the basement for a cider now.

[dena]

green drinks is a must go to event, no question about it. it's time all you creatives out there green your business as well as your personal gifts, particularly around the holidays. i am a testament to the power of this approach and i was very fortunate to come across www.thegroovymind.com, which is a hip sustainable and socially responsible gift site. their themed gifts are exceptionally groovy and the quality is incredible!! i've used them two years in a row for my location scouting business. and my clients--graphic designers, editorial staff of major consumer rags, they absolutely love these gifts.

[Siel]

Roger -- Drinking home brew at home totally overlooks the goal of green drinks, which is to actually bring people together from out of their homes. Useful for house parties perhaps, though.

I'm trying to decide of dena's comment is advertising spam or a real comment --