The Seattle non-profit Greendrinks is driving two environmentally friendly events on Capitol Hill in the next week. Agent Green invades Madison Market on Saturday to help improve its energy efficiency, and a slew of environmental leaders will bring their knowledge and inspiration to “Bloom” next Wednesday.

 

Agent Green

When: Saturday, October 24th

Time: 10 am – 2 pm

Where: Central Co-op

Tested and approved in April over at Pike Pub and Brewery, Greendrinks’ Agent Green program is a mechanism for helping businesses renovate and retrofit to become more energy efficient. Working in tandem with Seattle City Light’s commercial incentive program, Greendrinks helps plan, organize and publicize an event to raise money to cover the upfront costs of energy efficient installations such as new windows, insulation, etc., while City Light rewards them for these advances. This Saturday, Agent Green is doing its work for Madison Market.

According to Gabriel Scheer, Founder and Executive Director of Greendrinks, Saturday’s Madison Market event will have 25% of all sales made that day go toward efficiency upgrades for the Co-op. On top of making you feel like a healthy consumer, the afternoon will feature live music from Slow Skate, and every receipt is loaded with a “sweet deal” on Blue Bird ice cream. The goal is to do something to help a local business, help the environment, and, importantly, have a good time. “Lets make a party out of this. Let’s make it fun,” said Scheer.

Bloom 2

When: Wednesday, October 28th

Where: Pravda –  1406 10th Ave, Suite 200

Time: 7-11 pm

If you’ve ever watched a TED Talk you’ll want to go to Bloom. 

Now in its second installment, Bloom is a series of talks and presentations focused on local sustainability and green ideas for the future of the world. The first Bloom in April overflowed Sole Repair, featuring talks from locals Molly Moon, Joe Whinney from Theo Chocolate, as well as national accredited leaders like Auden Schendler, the Executive Director of Sustainability for Aspen Skiing. 

This year’s lineup features an “even more stellar line up of speakers,” says Scheer, including former Sierra Club national President Adam Werbach and Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist Rob Bernard. With a format of short, 10 minute speeches from top environmental leaders, Scheer hopes to cut out any cliches, book promotions and get content “as eclectic as we possibly can, stretching form topic matter to style of speaking.”

Tickets are $13 right now, and $15 dollars at the door, but Scheer is almost certain the event will sell out.

For the volunteer-run Greendrinks, money has not been, and still is not the goal. “We don’t make any money on this, but for right now, that is OK,” said Scheer. Scheer already has plans to continue the Agent Green Program at The Red Door in Fremont, on top of any thing else they are needed for. “We want to be used for some social good, and this is a way we can do that.”