People
Continuing our virtual Climate Café where we look at people and places making a positive contribution to our future , we look at “ People , Planet , Pint ”, an international meet-up group that ... Well , let ’ s let them tell us about it . By Gilly Smith
We ’ ve been thinking a lot about what we can do at Whistler Towers about Climate Change . And it was in the book Spinning Out by the brilliant activist , Charlie Hertzog Young that we first heard about climate cafes . These are spaces where people can talk about their eco anxiety , share ideas and feel like they ’ re not alone that first inspired this page .
But mostly , they ’ re physical spaces ; in the last issue , we read about Circles ’ monthly meet-up for women involved in sustainability , either through activism or business , and in this issue , we meet Sam Zindle , managing director of Brighton B Corp certified digital marketing company , Propellernet who organises Brighton ’ s People , Planet , Pint monthly get togethers which have spread all over the world . Over to you , Sam .
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, Planet , Pint is an international meet-up group now . It was started by Adam Bastock , who founded Small99 , which creates carbon reduction plans for small businesses . I was there when he ran the first one in 2021 at Cop 26 in Glasgow . It was essentially just a room in the back of a pub in Glasgow , and it ’ s grown and grown . Brighton was one of the first other cities to start running people planning meet-ups .
We meet once a month , alternating between The Walrus – that ’ s the one that I ’ m responsible for - and at the old Albion . It ’ s always the third Thursday of the month from six until whenever people want to go home . It needs to be regular for people . You just sign up at Eventbrite , and it ’ s completely free .
This is for anyone who ’ s interested in sustainability , but it ’ s purposefully non agenda based . We get people from all walks of life , from people in academia to startups in the kind of tech sustainability space . Or they may simply care about the environment . So , if you ’ re just curious people in the city who want to talk more , you can come down . There are never any speakers . There ’ s never a running order . It ’ s literally that you get your first drink bought for you , courtesy of our sponsors , Crystal Hosting and Propellernet . And then you can have your chats . It ’ s just a place where you ’ re surrounded by people who feel the same way .
I think Brighton is awash with some brilliant independently run , volunteerbased community groups and it thrives on that . There used to be something in Brighton years ago called like , the Green Drinks , but
back then sustainability wasn ’ t mainstream or a conscious thought for many people . I think attendance didn ’ t really last ; it was always the same people . Every time we do People , Planet , Pint , we get about 40 % of people that are new . So , it does have an amazing kind of new energy to each one .
You do get maybe 20 people or so I ’ d say that are there for most of them . But you just get an array of different people coming through the door of the pub that each meetup which makes it keeps it fresh , keeps it exciting and keeps new conversations happening . We get somewhere between 50 and 100 people each month which makes it the largest sustainability meet up in the city . I guess it ’ s just a really vibrant and active community around sustainability and Brighton .
In the last month alone , I ’ ve spoken with a guy who ’ s pressing plant-based vinyl records who ’ s now done a deal with a major label , and a guy who works in agri tech and is using AI to direct plant-enhancing products onto the crops to grow them better in a really sustainable way . I speak to people who work in marketing and we talk about green washing and green hushing and how to help companies navigate that whole space . I mean , I could go on ... you meet people from 101 different backgrounds .
And my hope is that the conversations go on beyond the evening . I know for a fact there ’ s been some connections made and people who ’ ve kind of collaborated , which is a really big part of this and that everyone has there has a shared interest in doing something for the planet and environment in whatever form that may take .
So it ’ s a very successful meetup and it will endure , I have no doubt , for years to come and hopefully grow in attendance . There ’ s no move to change how we do it . It seems to work for people
There are People , Planet Pints all over the world now . I think it ’ s in 30 different cities in the UK , including Manchester , London and Bristol , and even smaller places like Cheltenham . But there ’ s one in California , there ’ s one in Berlin , there ’ s a couple I think in Scandinavia . You can go onto the People , Planet , Pint website to find out more about where the local events are happening all over the world .
We don ’ t have big budgets to advertise . We don ’ t have massive sponsors . And actually , that ’ s part of its attraction , I think , because the minute you start kind of having to deliver a sponsored message or advertised , you know , to certain people that it becomes something different . So I ’ m pretty comfortable with the kind of grassroots scene in Brighton but of course , we ’ re always always looking for new people to find out about us and come along and spread the word . l https :// small99 . co . uk / people-planetpint-meetup /