 "Photo: Lori Lake")
While many students are still reeling from their green drinks during St. Patrick's Day weekend, a group of Newark "green drinkers" are trying to change the world, one monthly meeting at a time.
Green Delaware, the local chapter of Green Drinks Interntional, which is also located in 350 cities around the world, is an environmental group looking to make the state go green by becoming more environmentally conscious. The chapter, started by Lori and John Lake, held its first Green Drinks meeting in October 2007 and now meets at TGI Fridays across from the Bob Carpenter Center on the first Tuesday of each month. Green Delaware has gone from a small group of 10 members to one that welcomes approximately 60 or more.
The Lakes say they became environmental activists when they started renovating their house and didn't see many options to help make their home eco-friendly.
"We wanted to rebuild it green, but we had a hard time finding people who were knowledgeable about going green," Lori says. "People looked at us like we were from another planet when we asked about green products, so we started looking for people who had been there and done that. We came across Green Drinks and researched them. We thought it'd be great to go and visit with groups about the environment."
She says there were no groups in the northern Delaware area, so they decided to start their own.
John says their current project, Green TV, which involves producing short online video clips about the environment, is an important step toward making Green Drinks widely known throughout the area.
"It's about finding direction whenever it comes to promoting business," he says. "The best way to find more information is through small videos, not presentations or books. We want Green TV to be that avenue."
The concept of going green isn't as widely accepted in the Delaware area as in other parts of the country, John says. Green Drinks is trying to help people understand why it is so important to care for the Earth on which everyone lives.
"When we first started out, we felt really alone," he says. "People thought we were strange looking for non-toxic insulation and alternative energy. In this area, it's strange. On the West Coast, it's not."
Gordon Hesse, a member of Green Drinks who has attended all but one meeting, says he has felt the need to go green for a long time. His past work experience as a New Jersey Shore lifeguard has showed him how the Earth has been mistreated for years.
"I saw pollution on beaches interacting with the environment in a negative way," Hesse says. "The proliferation of plastics drives me nuts. You can't walk out of Wawa without a plastic bag. We need to come up with a way to counter that."
Lori says there are many options for college students to go green and help the environment despite being low on cash and free time.
"Everyone uses stuff," she says. "It's what you do when you're done with that stuff. Recycle it. Another step is to put compact fluorescent bulbs in dorms, houses and apartments. You want to cut your electricity bill and reduce greenhouse gases? Do those types of things to go green."
Hesse says he has begun to go green in many areas of his life. His primary change has been giving up disposable shopping bags.
"I go into 7-Eleven with a cloth bag and people notice me," he says. "You get better service and I think it's because they've got to pay for those bags. It saves them money and makes more sense. I recycle those plastic bottles I've come to detest. I saw a television show that said every water bottle uses a half a cup of oil. To me, that is insanity. Avoid buying the damn things."
Lori and John both feel the most important reason to go green is to protect their health. They say by being conscious of the environment, they are more aware of how the air and surrounding products are going to affect their bodies.
"If you are surrounding yourself with toxic materials, it affects your personal health," Lori says. "And that affects many other things - your work, your family. It ripples through everything in life. And then if everyone wants to concentrate on their own personal health and their own steps in going green, whether it's saving energy or improving their home, all those little steps everyone is making add up to a bigger difference to health on the planet."
Hesse says it's not too late to start changing how the environment is treated, as long as people start making alterations in their daily lives now.
"It's clear that if we continue on the path we are revealing now, we will leave a horrible legacy," he says. "The way I see it, and I tend to take a pessimistic view of what we're doing, we're setting things in motion that may be irreversible at some time. I also think there's a lot we don't understand about becoming good stewards of what we've inherited."
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