By Peter Boardman

Portsmouth Green Drinks is doing a little bit of old fashioned “recycling” in order to jump-start and reinvigorate its networking and speaker series for 2011. With a new organizer and an exciting line-up of speakers the event is sure to be a “must” attend for Seacoast greenies. Held at Portsmouth’s super-green martini bar, Two Ceres Street, this season of sustainable mixers promises to be as engaging for socializing and networking as they will be informative.

On the third Thursday of each month, sustainably minded Seacoast community members will meet up at Two Ceres St. in Portsmouth for informal social sessions known as “Portsmouth Green Drinks”. At these sessions attendees normally mingle and introduce themselves around the room, listen to guest speakers, have a few drinks, and engage in topics of interest. Typically with a mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business, anyone who’s interested is welcomed to join in. The events are unstructured and usually very simple. It's a great way to make new contacts, and also a way of catching up with people you already know. Everyone is encouraged to invite someone else along, so there’s always a new crowd to keep things interesting. Basically, Green Drinks is a self-organizing network of eco-friendly community members.

Green Drinks is part of a worldwide effort to unite like minded individuals with cities all of the country including Concord, NH and Portland ME getting in the Green Drinks game. The basic guidelines for the events follow a code which specifies the events must be: non-profit, run responsibly, decentralized, agenda free, local, self replicating, simple to organize, free form, regular, and most of all fun! With each year, a venue volunteers their space and a promoter is appointed from within the community. This happens to be Portsmouth's third year holding the event. For those who are familiar, last year, the events were also held at Two Ceres Street. Located right next to Pocos on the waterfront in Portsmouth, Two Ceres Street features many eco-friendly aspects including a floor made from recycled plastic milk bottles and a bar made from kirei board, a strong, lightweight, and environmentally-friendly substitute for wood made from rapidly renewable and reclaimed agriculture fibers, as well as no-VOC paints.

While the location is the same, this year offers a slightly different feel with eco-artist Tim Gaudreau of Tim Gaudreau Studios planning and promoting with the help of the Green Alliance. “I want to move away from strictly networking, and introduce aspects of art, poetry, and music to liven things up,” Mr. Gaudreau said as he explained his fresh approach to Portsmouth GreenDrinks. He plans to not only incorporate art and music, but additionally broaden the scope of the guest speakers he invites. “I am looking for relevant issues this year, I want to bring in scientists, community activists, business members, and any one else who will engage the crowd with new ideas.”

This month, Thursday, February 17, marks the fourth meeting of the Portsmouth Green Drinks year that started in November. Networking begins at 6:00, followed by guest speaker, David Anderson, Project Coordinator of NH Coast at 7:00. While each guest speaker is picked based on relevant issues in the environment, and the community Mr. Gaudreau acknowledges that, “people can only take so much marketing and sale-pitch type rhetoric, I want to steer away from strictly business owners, and introduce guest speakers from all walks and all professions.”