Get-togethers bring out social side of Earth lovers

Seattle is consistently ranked one of the nation's greenest cities — with environmentally friendly public buildings, earth-conscious politicians and a huge roster of businesses and nonprofit groups devoted to keeping the planet clean.

But trying to save the world from blights like global warming can be a lonely, disheartening pursuit. And until recently, environmentalists had no easy way to connect with each other.

Now — on the second Tuesday of each month — the organic beer and wine flow, the business cards fly and a spirit of conservation and sustainability is shared. It's the Seattle branch of Green Drinks, an international network of social gatherings for the environmental community.

The group has grown to about 120 socializers a month and a mailing list of 1,000 since it started three years ago. This week a new Eastside branch drew about 60 people to a Kirkland "Smart car" showroom to munch on sandwiches and chocolates.

The food and drink are free, members say, but the most important thing is conversation.

"We're basically fighting an uphill battle and Green Drinks is an opportunity to just let loose with people who share our battle," said Jessie Alan, the executive director of Eco Encore, a Seattle nonprofit. "It refreshes you and reminds you why you're doing what you're doing."

At the Kirkland meeting Tuesday, people dressed in casual business attire chatted about biodiesel and environmental blogs, the job market and the horrendous traffic on Interstate 405. A salesman from Green Car Co., the meeting's host, gave test drives in tiny Smart cars, while architects mingled with Realtors, techies with activists.

Erin Hickok, a Greenpeace organizer, flitted around the room recruiting for a global-warming awareness campaign. She said she signed up five people in 15 minutes.

"It's a group of people who would care about what I'm working on," she said. "I can talk freely and drink while I'm doing it."

Tom Hall, a businessman from Tukwila, said he came by because environmentalism is "a side of me I've been ignoring for a while."

Gabriel Scheer, now a program manager at Flexcar, started the Seattle group after hearing about a Green Drinks branch in Tacoma when he was a graduate student at the University of Washington. He would attend earth-friendly lectures and other events and usually found the best part was the mingling afterward.

Seattle Green Drinks is a couple hours of mingling, with no structure or speakers. Businesses now host the gatherings, rather than bars, and city and county officials blend in with an all-ages crowd that includes both CEOs and students. Anyone is welcome.

"That's its power: its neutral venue and connection to people," Scheer said. "There's a level of purity to this that's so cool."

Recent hosts of the Seattle branch have included advertising, public-relations and law firms, a socially responsible investment company and a salon, along with League of Conservation Voters, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and Grist Magazine. The next open slot isn't until November 2007.

Hall said he's seen the diversity in both the Seattle and Eastside meetings. "It's a much broader cross-section of people than I expected," he said. "I sort of thought it was going to be that narrow granola crowd."

The gatherings bring a fragmented environmental community together, which is even more important on the Eastside where the groups are less-established, said Susan Fahnestock, co-founder of the Green Car Co.

Some participants come looking for work. Recruiters sometimes announce openings to the crowd, and a woman once wore a button saying, "For Hire."

Others look for dates. Scheer said two of his friends met at Green Drinks and are now living together, not the group's first love connection.

Whatever the motivation, the group provides a unique opportunity to just talk — along with food, drink and a common cause.

"It has a very positive and infectious atmosphere," Alan said. "It's basically impossible to have a bad time."

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com