About Green Drinks

A bunch of us who work in the environmental field used to meet up for a beer in London once a month. It was a nice gathering, and we always encouraged people to invite others, so you never knew who would be there and they were always interesting people and great connections were made and cool ideas were had. We started in 1990 and called it Green Drinks.

In 2000 we set up a website greendrinks.org as an easy-to-remember URL and soon after that we realised a few friends from Oxford were having their own Green Drinks too so we listed them on the website. New York City joined as the first US Green Drinks in 2002, set up by Margaret Lydecker who became the USA Coordinator. As Green Drinkers saw the website, travelled the world and relocated jobs, more sprang up.

Since 2000 there have been over a million Green Drinks attendees worldwide.

The Green Drinks Code

All Green Drinks follow the Green Drinks Code. Read it to see how Green Drinks works and then apply to set up in your town or city.

1. Green Drinks are Open

• Green Drinks is mostly for people working on environmental issues, but anyone can come -- people from environment groups, business, government, academia and as individuals. The spirit of green drinks is that anyone can come, and this makes for the interesting interactions. There is no 'us and them'. Ensure that everyone is welcome. Green Drinks is inclusive and not exclusive.
• Organisers and all attendees actively welcome newcomers and introduce them to others in the group.
• All attendees commit to meeting new people at every session and not just sticking with people they already know.

2. Green Drinks are Freeform

• There is generally no agenda or theme, Green Drinkers mingle and share insights and provoke and exasparate and inspire and delight each other. There are moments of serendipity and a lot of 'oh, you if are interested in X then I must introduce you to that person over there who knows all about it' ... All kinds of people come to Green Drinks and this is what makes for the interesting interactions.

3. Green Drinks are Regular

• Usually monthly.
• Most organisers find a fixed date in the month is easiest to manage, at the same venue and something like the second tuesday in the month. Fridays and Thursdays tend to be busy for most people, so Tue or Wed is best.
• The predictability of time and place is one of the keys to a good Green Drinks.

4. Green Drinks are Simple to Organise

• Usually held in a convenient, central location that is free. Have a sign or a person assigned to welcoming new people.
• A private space is the best choice in the end. However, booking a private room usually means the organiser has to incur cost or risk of not enough people turning up to cover the cost of the room. Instead most Green Drinks have an arrangement something like: "If I bring along 15 / 40 / 100 people on a normally quiet night can we have a space to ourselves somewhere?"

5. Green Drinks are Self-promoting

• People who come to Green Drinks each invite others along by word of mouth, who in turn themselves invite others, etc. Start with maybe 10 keen people you already know, and get them to each invite 5 others the first time.
• Facebook and BlueSky groups are very popular with Green Drinks organisers, allowing for people to join the group and also to set up individual events with RSVPs and so on.
• You can also set up an email list for invites and use something like mailchimp to send out reminders. Email invites mean that people can foward the invite to friends easily. This is the core for exponential growth. Using a 'Hosted Signup Form' gives you email signups via a link you can use in your linktree. Send out a reminder the week before to everyone.
• You'll need a page to link to in order to be listed on greendrinks.org. That could be a facebook group page, or you can set up a simple website. Linktree for a main landing page and Eventbrite or Luma for events and ticketing is a combination that is quick and free. Other options include Google Sites and NeoCities
• Don't forget the offline world exists too -- post ads on billboards or paper magazines or in the lobbies of local organisations or other gathering points.

6. Green Drinks are Local

• Cities or towns or suburbs.
• 45 minutes' travel time apart from each other.
• Avoid date clashes and being in the same week as neighbouring Green Drinks. Check the website for your nearest Green Drinks and talk to the organisers; they will be happy to hear from you.
• Counties or areas or bioregions are allowed only if rural (less than 200 people per square mile) and rotating between several towns. If you are sticking to one town as the venue then the Green Drinks would be named after that town. There are successful Green Drinks in towns as small as 18,000 population.
• Many Green Drinks start with a dozen people and then grow to be a regular size -- 30 people is the most common size with 70 for larger cities.

7. Green Drinks are Agenda Free

• Green Drinks is not a channel to circulate announcements or news about environmental issues. Green Drinkers are already deluged with information from thousands of other sources. Green Drinks is a place to go to get away from all that.
• It's OK to have speakers for 20-30 mins or so or to have a theme for the evening to help stimulate discussion, but the bulk of the evening should be freeform and random.
• Some groups like Harrow in London, England have a 60 second newsflash round - this is an opportunity for everyone to share a minute's news from any environmental activities they are involved in.
• The host venue itself creates some slant inevitably but must be gracious and open; independent venues such as bars or restaurants are preferred.
• Green Drinks as an entity will never endorse or have a position or stance on an environmental topic.
• There will be no non-Green Drinks-related content or messages or appeals or ads circulated to the city organisers or appearing on the greendrinks.org website.

8. Green Drinks are Decentralised

• Each city does its own thing.
• There is no central mailing list of attendees.
• There is no central logo or branding as each city has its own logo and style to adapt to each location

9. Green Drinks are Non Profit

• Organisers mostly use free resources and volunteers and donate their own time.
• A charge at the door is OK if it is necessary to cover costs; per event only, no membership fee. The charge should not be too high so that it prevents anyone from being able to come, so some concessions for eg students and unwaged is a good idea.
• Mostly free to attend, each participant pays for their own drinks and food.
• Incorporation as LLC or Ltd company is OK for larger groups.
• Event sponsors and venue hosts OK as long as freedom of discussion is not compromised.

10. Green Drinks are Run Responsibly

• Organisers and participants work to create a safe, non threatening environment for all and drink responsibly.
• Organisers niche and collaborate with other Green Drinks in their area.
• Organisers keep their link on on www.greendrinks.org up-to-date.
• Organisers don't sell their email lists to advertisers.

11. Green Drinks are Fun

• There is a very informal vibe and overall light feel.
• There are lots of benefits to green drinks; they are hard to quantify, but when you have seen people come and make new links and learn and argue and set up new schemes and get new jobs etc, it is a good feeling.

12. Start A Green Drinks in Your City

• Check that your new Green Drinks can comply with this Code and then email listings [at] greendrinks.org with your city, state (if in USA), country and URL link to apply to have a listing on www.greendrinks.org. By applying you agree to run your Green Drinks in accordance with The Green Drinks Code.

The Small Print

Disclaimer: The info on this website is not all up to date. Sometimes links to cities are broken or may link to an event that is no longer running. Please check by other means before travelling to a Green Drinks if there is any doubt.

Terms: By having a link to your city on www.greendrinks.org, organisers agree to follow the Green Drinks Code. Cities that do not comply with the Green Drinks Code will be removed from the listings on www.greendrinks.org.

By attending or organising Green Drinks events, all participants agree to release greendrinks.org and its owners from any responsibility, liability or claim in law whether incurred as a result of the use of any of the material or information or services provided on this website or otherwise incurred.

Privacy and Data Protection: greendrinks.org does not hold any private information. The information held is only URL links that city organisers have provided, which are by definition public. Greendrinks.org does not use cookies.

Green Drinks Code Version 3.0 January 2026

Contact

If you want to know about the next green drinks nearest you please find the relevant city page on greendrinks.org -- go along, you will have fun and expand your mind!

If there is no Green Drinks near you and you want to set up a new city, please read the Green Drinks Code and follow the instructions there

If you want to add your green drinks city to our listings please email listings [at] greendrinks.org with your city name, state (if in USA), country and URL link.

Any other questions can be referred to margaret [at] greendrinks.org for the USA or edwin [at] greendrinks.org for the rest of the world.