When I lived in Beijing, I had the good fortune of becoming part of a community called Green Drinks. Every month, folks would gather (first at the old Stoneboat in Ritan Park and then for many years at The Bookworm, now just virtually) to meet other people who studied or worked on sustainability issues. In fact, I had the privilege of helping to bring special guest speakers, filmmakers, poets, musicians, and other "green" themed events to the gatherings from time to time (2007 - 2011).
Later, after living in Shenzhen for a year and a half, I was looking for ways to connect with the local "green community" and decided to start a Green Drinks chapter in Shenzhen. Tje founder of Beijing Green Drinks, Jenny Chu, highly encouraged me to do so and connected me with one of the original founders in London to get the ball rolling. From 2016 - 2020 I organized and hosted 38 Green Drinks events in Shenzhen routinely (with a few pauses here and there, particularly a long one in 2020).
Low carbon dinners, vegan cooking classes, film screenings, green trivia games with green prizes, tree plantings, zerowaste picnicing, trash to treasure (jewelry & gifting) workshops, clothes swapping, virtual bingo games, special guests -- we had a blast! It was always a pretty tight-knit group (our biggest event drew in 63 people) and attracted some of the kindest, most creative, and interesting people from all around China -- and the world -- that you'd like to meet.
April 2017, One Year Anniversary Celebration Picnic at the Shenzhen Bay Park Nature School
April 2018, Mangrove tree planting with the Blue Ocean Conservation Association
I am happy to say that SZ Green Drinks is still going strong! Since I moved back to the US in August 2020, the new event organizers and hosts, Natalia Sancho and Yu Qi (pictured below) have brought in new guests, dinner venues, and event concepts like their recent BCorps "Building Better Business" boardgame and later this spring, plogging at Shenzhen Bay Park.
