At the monthly gathering of Boston Green Drinks last night, I was one of several people to volunteer to take over "administration" of the group, which is involves far less than my word choice implies (hence the quotes), but I can't think of a better word.

Like-minded people get together once a month for a couple of hours to hang out and talk green-related issues. Many of the people are working in the field, as engineers, or as sales reps. for companies that make green products. And many others are students who've pointed themselves toward green-tinged careers of one sort or another. Still others are like me, who recycle, turn off lights, and use the unused side of paper, etc.

When I mentioned that I have hundreds of pounds of stone left over from the wall project, one of the other people who volunteered to organize suggested I could "freecycle" it. In fact, I don't think that would work, but I've been a Freecycle fan, and participant, for a couple of years, and commissioned a story on it back when I was Life at Home editor. Clearly, we who gather are kinfolk.

I learned last night that about 400 are on the list, and my experience of having gone to about half a dozen is that between 20 and 50 people attend each event.

Last night I happened to sit next to two engineers, both of whom I had spoken with before, though in the first case, the fellow remembered me more than I did him, and in the second, I didn't realize the prior connection until he gave me his card, and I recognized his last name, the company name, the logo, etc. The former works in a small-ish company that builds prototypes, or tests, the power-related innovations of small start-ups. The latter has an engineering undergrad degree, and is enrolled in a "green MBA" program.

Two women nearby said they are roommates: Both are grad students, one at Harvard and one at MIT. One studies the atmosphere, the other studies the ocean. Quite the pair.

From what I understand, there are Green Drink groups in many other areas, though I don't know if there's any clearinghouse that make it easy to find groups where you are. Still, if this sounds interesting to you, there's always Google.