Raise a Glass to Going Green -- and Learning More About It

Need a good pickup line?

Tina Schneider has a suggestion: "Are you green?"

The query might get you a laugh -- if not a phone number -- if you're at a Green Drinks happy hour, an informal gathering where environmentally minded folks meet, grab a cocktail and discuss earthy issues.

The D.C. chapter of Green Drinks -- created by Schneider -- will meet for just the third time Tuesday at the restaurant Local 16. (The group plans to get together the second Tuesday of every month; April's meeting is a bit off-schedule because of Passover.)

Green Drinks ( http://www.greendrinks.org) has been around since 1989 and has more than 200 chapters worldwide. The first was in London, and the group now boasts members in more than 20 countries and about 100 U.S. cities. (That's right: Washington -- home of Climate Crisis Action Day rallies and Al Gore testimony -- was beaten to the punch by such cities as Charleston, S.C., and Iowa City.)

Schneider, 42, expected 10 people to attend the first event in February at Penn Quarter's Zaytinya. Instead, 64 showed up. At the second, there were 85.

"It's growing so rapidly that I'm astounded," she says.

The crowd has ranged from college graduates looking to find out more about recycling to professionals brainstorming about green roofing.

"There are people there in their ties and suits, and there are people there in their jeans and work shirts," says Brian Uher, 37, a Green Drinks participant who is a senior adviser at Amicus Green Building Center in Kensington. "They migh t be running a company or a project manager -- it runs the gamut."

Stop by, sip a G&T and see where the conversation leads -- just don't expect to find a libation with an emerald hue.

"The drinks, unfortunately, are not really green," Schneider says with a laugh. "But you can bring your own food coloring if you want."

-- Kris Coronado

Green Drinks D.C. will meet Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Local 16 (1602 U St. NW, 202-265-2828). For details on other chapters, including those in Annapolis and Baltimore, visit the Web site.