Eagle Valley Alliance for Sustainability

What is Green Drinks?

Almost what it sounds like, but it's the topic that's green, not the drinks (once a year is plenty for green beer, thank you very much). Interested in this great, green wave that's sweeping over us? People like you meet once a month for beer, wine or carrot juice at informal sessions known as Green Drinks. It's quite a cross section of the community and is rigidly informal. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just use the secret password—"I'm here for Green Drinks"—and we'll look after you and introduce you to whomever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts and for learning what a cool, green vision of the future looks like. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s alway a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organizing network. These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity. It's a force for good times.

In 1989, at a pub called the Slug and Lettuce in Northern London, Edwin Datschefski was sitting with several of his green design colleagues when he noticed an enviro-minded acquaintance at a nearby table. As it turned out, the friend was sitting with a few of his eco-conscious mates, so they pulled some tables together. And so a movement was born. Fifteen years later, the concept has evolved into "Green Drinks," and now it's global. In 2001, Datschefski created an official website, and as of 2007, 304 cities in 34 countries have their own so-called "nodes," which offer contact information for each city's coordinator. The coordinator arranges meetings in bars and restaurants (often with organic or vegetarian food), relays information via email, and facilitates discussions. If you're travelling, check out www.greendrinks.org to hang out with some enlightened locals.