Green Drinks Libertyville learns about bees
If there is more than one queen bee in a hive the queens will fight until only one is alive and victorious. Marna Coleman delivers facts like this as she stands next to a beehive filled with hundreds of live bees.
Her audience is environment enthusiasts enjoying bar food and cocktails.
Coleman, an educator at the Heller Nature Center in Highland Park, is at O'Tooles Pub in Libertyville speaking about bees as part of a monthly presentation for a new chapter of Green Drinks.
The July 14 gathering, held by Libertyville's chapter of Green Drinks, was the second installment of the new chapter's "Birds and the Bees" kickoff.
The group now joins the other 665 Green Drinks around the world in countries ranging from the U.K. to Romania.
"Green Drinks is a way to meet people in a special setting that is informal, yet informative," said Anissa Chaudhry, a Green Drinks Libertyville founder. "It can be a meeting place for people interested in the environment in general or just interested in the topic at hand."
Green Drinks was founded in 1989 by Edwin Datschefski at a pub called The Slug and Lettuce in London, England.
The practice of holding the gatherings in pubs or bars, which has continued since the organization's humble founding, lends Green Drinks gatherings an informal, relaxed atmosphere that promotes discussion.
"It's all about the social interaction," said Bo Harper, a co-founder of Green Drinks Libertyville.
Both Chaudhry and Harper work with the environment - Chaudhry with Lake Forest Open Lands and Harper with Lake Bluff Open Lands. They hope Green Drinks can promote awareness of the environmental issues they deal with on daily basis.
In Libertyville, every Green Drinks gathering features a presentation, question and answer session and an open forum.
The second meeting had a 30 percent increase in attendance, Chaudhry said. Coleman taught an engaged audience, some with years of environmental knowledge and some with none, about the complexity of bees.
Lauren Grosskopf of Lake Bluff attended the second gathering after a pleasant impression from the first in June.
"This is my first time doing something as an adult in terms of environmental awareness," Grosskopf said. "I know local honey was a very popular thing that was big in the town I grew up in. A lot of people had their own beehives and produced their own honey. I'm curious to see what I can do as a resident of Lake Bluff to protect the bee population."
Coleman described what bees made up her traveling beehive. It featured worker bees known as female bees, drones known as male bees, and a queen bee. At the end of her presentation, she gave tips to protect the bee population, as bees are the most important pollinating insect.
"Don't cut your dandelions," she stated.
Dandelions are one of the most pollinated flowers, which is essential to bees. Coleman also encouraged attendees to cut down on pesticide-use and to plant more flowers whenever possible.
At the next meeting, set for Tuesday, Aug. 11, Dave Wilms will speak about the energy crisis and the power of renewable energy.
"I hope that (after Green Drinks) people have a different outlook," Chaudhry said. "The community isn't just buildings and people, It's also plants, animals and other components. And without that, we can't live in a community as wonderful as Libertyville."