As the citiy is gearing up for the UN climate conference in November, Bonnections teamed up with Unity Effect, the Tannenbusch House and the Bonn Energy & Environment Roundtable (BEER) to launch a Green Drinks meetup group in Bonn.
Green Drinks are informal gatherings of people working in, or interested in, sustainable development and environmental issues.
Our inaugural GreenDrinks Bonn gathering will be held on September 5th at Mamsell Restaurant in the heart of Bonn-Altstadt. (See event details below.)
We are going to meet the first Tuesday of every month at 7 pm in different venues to support local business and Bonn’s growing sustainability eco-system.
GreenDrinks Bonn is part of the international Green Drinks network — a growing volunteer-managed social networking group built around a common interest and passion for the environment, sustainability and community with a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business.
From a small group in North London, Green Drinks has expanded to more than 70 countries in the world. Bonn is the 558th city to join the growing network. Other newcomer cities are Bathurst (Australia), Chihuahua Chihuahua (Mexico), Princeton (USA), Brasilia (Brazil), Juarez Chihuahua (Mexico) and Port-au-Prince (Haiti).
I was introduced to Greendrinks a few years ago while living Switzerland. The Zurich Green Drinks usually have a theme and a guest of some kind.
The theme of our September event will be “#Uniting4Climate in Bonn ahead of the #COP23 “, inspired by the new Uniting4Climate communication campaign .The campaign was launched earlier this month by the World Bank’s global partnership programm “Connect4Climate, in collaboration with Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and other partners to highlight unity in support of climate solutions; countries, cities, regions, businesses, civil society and individuals are “Uniting for Climate Action.”
Green Drinks is your local conversation on climate change action, sustainable development and implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The overall atmosphere is casual, diverse and inclusive.
In 1989, at a pub called the Slug and Lettuce in North London, Edwin Datschefski was sitting with his green design colleagues Yorick Benjamin and Paul Scott when he noticed an enviro-minded acquaintance at a nearby table. As it turned out, the friend was sitting with a few of his own eco-conscious mates, so they pulled some tables together. And so a movement was born.
The concept evolved into Green Drinks, an informal, self-organising network. In 2001, Datschefski created an official Web site, and it has since spread across the world. www.greendrinks.org
Each city has an organiser who arranges meetings in bars and restaurants (often with organic or vegetarian food), relays information via email and social media, and facilitates discussions. The spirit of Green Drinks is that anyone can come, and this makes for interesting interactions. Just go up to someone and say “are you green?”, and you’ll be made welcome.
This video features a 2016 Greendrinks event organized by Green Drinks Cape Code coordinator Natalia von Hausen.
WHAT: Inaugural GreenDrinks Bonn Meet-up
WHEN: Tuesday, September 5th, starting at 7 pm
WHERE: Mamsell Beergarden, Heerstr. 119, 53111 Bonn
(If it rains, we’ll move to Que Sera Tapas Bar across the street.)
HOW: Walk, cycle, car-pool or use public transportation (from 61/62/66 train stop at Stadthaus it’s only a short walk up Maxstr.)
WHO: Anyone working or interested in sustainable development and environmental issues, eco-conscious folks
WHY: To meet up and chat with like-minded people, in a friendly atmosphere for fun, contacts, info, inspiration, business and pleasure
