"Communities" is our regular column about just that. It is everything you need to know about a given social organization, group, charity, club, etc. in a convenient, easy-to-read package.

Tonight, Green Initiatives hosts Green Drinks. It's a regular meet-up in which green-minded professionals have a few cold ones (in recyclable glass bottles, of course) while they network and share ideas that might one day make our air, water and soil cleaner. We caught up with Nitin Dani of Green Initiatives to learn more.

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What is Green Initiatives?

"We're a non-profit, volunteer-led organization based in Shanghai and focused on environmental sustainability. We organize awareness events, develop and deliver education programs, and implement projects to help make sure that Shanghai, and China as a whole, develop or grow in a way that does not come at the cost of environmental degradation."

How did it get started and why?

"We started out as the Shanghai chapter of Green Drinks in 2009. Green Drinks is a relatively loose network of chapters in more than 600 cities globally, that mostly organize networking events for people who are interested in environmental issues. In the past year or so, we started thinking that, while talking about environmental issues is great, action is even better, that if we need to create more impact we would need to move beyond just awareness activities. So we created Green Initiatives, which still organizes the Green Drinks Shanghai forums and film screenings, but in addition to that, we also focus on projects and programs that have real, measurable impact locally.

In short, Green Drinks (Shanghai) is a chapter, while Green Initiatives is an organization that organizes the Green Drinks events in Shanghai, but does more than just that."

What happens at Green Drinks? Who attends?

"Green Drinks forums (in Shanghai) happen twice a month and are free. We're currently running two forum series, one on "conscious consumption" at Arup Associates and the other on "sustainable spaces" at Kokuyo Furniture. Typically, we provide some beer and other beverages and give people a chance to do some meaningful networking, followed by presentations by two or three experts on the topic of the evening and a panel discussion with these experts.

For example, this Thursday our forum is called "What Lies Beneath" and the speakers would be talking about how spaces below the city that we never think much about, such as the transportation systems, groundwater management, parking and other infrastructure, can be made greener and more efficient. We get a fairly diverse crowd, about 50:50 Chinese to expat ratio. Most of our attendees are working professionals some of them from the environmental sector, but we also have students, travelers and people who are just interested in whatever topic we're exploring.

The monthly film screenings are more casual. We charge a donation of 50rmb, most of which we pass on to a local nonprofit. We provide beer, juices and snacks and screen a documentary that we think raises some good questions. Afterwards, a Green Drinks volunteer or a related expert will guide a discussion."

In addition to Green Drinks, what other kinds of events do does Green Initiatives organize?

"We do some corporate training, and will occasionally partner with a company or nonprofit to organize a special event. In the past we've done so for PwC, The Dutch Consulate Shanghai, H&M, CBRE, etc. We also regularly organize student events and workshops and are in the process of setting up the school outreach program (a more formal set of curriculum for kids of various age groups on various environmental topics) and our first handful of impact projects (short-term, action oriented projects), so once those get off the ground there will be many, many more events and opportunities to act."

Tell us about some of the projects that Green Initiatives is involved in.

"Our school outreach program is something we're really excited about. We're developing a modular environmental curriculum for students of all ages that we hope to start rolling out this year, starting in the international schools.

Our first big impact project is in collaboration with a reverse logistics and e-waste management company called EWSI. The idea is to provide an electronic waste recycling solution for the city that actually meets acceptable environmental standards. The vast majority of Shanghai's electronic waste, and there's a lot of it, gets dumped into landfills or unsafely disassembled by recyclers in rural areas, which wreaks all kinds of environmental havoc. Green Initiatives will install secure e-waste collection bins strategically throughout the city and run an awareness campaign, and EWSI will coordinate with its downstream partners to make sure the used electronics we collect in the bins are processed responsibly. More about this cooperation can be read here.

We have lots of other projects in the works that involve topics like home energy efficiency, upcycling, and corporate social responsibility."

How does one get involved with Green Initiatives?

"Attending the forums and film screenings is, of course, a great way to get started. If you're an expert on a topic we're exploring in a forum series, speaking at a forum is also enormously helpful. For people who want to put in a bit more elbow grease, we're always looking for volunteers to join our team. We rely on our volunteers to organize events, do translations, write content, do graphic design, manage social media, develop projects and programs, and just generally make things happen. It isn't something they take lightly. We ask for a minimum 6-month commitment of several hours per week, but our volunteers are true superstars. We are constantly looking for full-time interns for a minimum of 2 months. A company can also support us by being a sponsor or a partner (they can write to us to know the details)."

Green Drinks meets tonight at Kokuyo Furniture Showroom. For more details click here. Anyone who is interested in joining Green Initiatives can send an email to info@greeninitiatives.cn.