We Visit GreenDrinks, Have Beer, Note Fashion Shift

Last night Sightline, the Seattle-based enviro-wonks, were hosting GreenDrinks, the networking event for the environmentally minded [email sign-up here].

Despite a blizzard of epic proportions (we're talking about local media weather coverage, not the weather itself), we walked down to the South Lake Union Discovery thingie to see what it was all about. We stood in line to get a name tag. (The woman ahead of us, impatiently, "How long is this gonna take? I've got to get to the electric car meeting later.") There were free energy-saver lightbulbs ("Take One!") and copies of last year's Cascadia Scorecard.

Then we got a beer and stood around until a young woman asked us, "So...this is some kind of networking thing?" She was from EarthCorps, another Seattle-based organization, that does environmental restoration (English ivy: Public Enemy No. 1?) and outdoorsy youth and volunteer programs. Perhaps you'd like to apply for a job? Or volunteer?

People from Grist and WorldChanging were there, but they looked snooty so we didn't talk with them. Actually, it was a typical Seattle networking event: people came in groups of two or three and spent their time chatting with the people they came with. Two people said hello and introduced themselves to us; about 20 glanced at us nervously in passing.

We were a little surprised to see so much business casual at a green event. Not one Birkenstock! Not one lumpy wool sweater! Not one Guatemalan poncho! Maybe this is the new green thing, blending in with our corporate overlords. We were wearing rubber boots, in honor of Snowpocalypse 2007, which is perhaps the other reason people gave us a wide berth.

We did talk with Sightline's Alan Durning -- the man so mean he banned the family car -- and he told us to stick around for a stand-up economist ("Funniest guy") who was going to do a 5-minute bit. We didn't. We had a long walk up Denny facing us, and there was a new House on we weren't going to miss.