Networking group founder Lyndy Rutkowski sets sights on bolstering region’s green status

By Thomas Skernivitz

When it comes to going green, Northeast Ohio, Lyndy Rutkowski says, is starting to eat, drink, and breathe sustainability. She foresees the region evolving into an eco-focused version of Silicon Valley or Cambridge, Mass., where industry and education mesh 24/7 with lifestyle.

“Places like Silicon Valley and Cambridge came to fruition because the people made their passions for their work everything in their lives,” Rutkowski says. “Their innovative work was their career, their hobbies, and the central thing that drew their friendships together. Northeast Ohio’s green community is just like that. It’s impossible to differentiate people’s professional lives and personal lives when it comes to their dedication to sustainability, energy, and social welfare. This is what will catalyze the green economy of Northeast Ohio —the people’s passion.”

Thanks to Rutkowski, the associate director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute at Case Western Reserve University, Northeast Ohio’s sustainability supporters have a social outlet in which they can connect after 5 p.m. Her networking group, Cleveland Green Drinks, meets monthly at locally owned restaurants and bars.

Rutkowski started the group — originally called Green Happy Hour — in 2004. Although she had plenty of sustainability-related organizations to join, she noticed a void on the social level. “There was very little time to socialize and network (after presentations), and that’s what the people really wanted,” Rutkowski says. “They wanted a place to hang out and talk.”

The group started with about 50 members, many of whom were friends and colleagues of Rutkowski, then an employee of the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy. About a year later, upon learning of the international networking group Green Drinks, she opted to turn the Green Happy Hour into a local chapter.

“The affiliation gives us larger representation and connects us to a larger movement around the world,” says Rutkowski, who earned her MBA degree at Case Western’s Weatherhead School of Management. “Now, when people relocate here from other cities, they can join Cleveland Green Drinks, as they’re already familiar with it.”

An equally prominent transition occurred in 2009, when Cleveland Green Drinks began collaborating with the Shaker Square-based North Union Farmers Market. Membership immediately increased from 400-plus to more than 4,000, and Rutkowski gained a new partner to market and promote her group.

“Lyndy has always been around, she’s always been nice, and I thought, ‘This is someone I’d like to work with.’ And it’s been great,” North Union Executive Director Donita Anderson says. “We have a small staff and work very hard to run nine markets. Often our heads are down and we don’t get out. I thought it was time for us to meet and connect with different people in the green industry specifically.”

Green Drinks functions typically attract about 40 members, split evenly between familiar faces and newcomers. “That’s the nice thing about it for me: It’s not just the choir. It’s a lot of fresh faces,” Rutkowski says. “And we are very much focused on making positive changes in the community. Our duty is trickling out this information and opening peoples’ eyes as to the beauty of what’s going on in this area.”

Green Drinks events will usually occur on the final Tuesday or Wednesday of each month. Most functions will gather downtown or on the near East and West Sides.

“We want to bring people together because you’re not always going to get that same type of energy otherwise,” Rutkowski says. “And in this economy, it’s important for people to feel energized about their work and what they’re doing.”