Sustainability Zone (23rd November 2015)

Sam welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were received from Caitlin Doyle, Shruti Verma and Ben Franklin.

Actions from the last meeting:

Sam to speak to Piazza – Sam has sent an email and is awaiting a response.

Charging stations – Sam said that you have to ask the SUSU reception to use them and that it could be advertised more.

The minutes were approved.

Amy updated that they had filled two new members of their Committee – Biodiversity Coordinator and Recycling Coordinator.

Swap Shop is happening on Monday 30^th November.

Food forum is planned for 10^th December.

As she could not make the meeting, Caitlin had sent in written updates for the Committee to read.

Sam updated the Committee about his current projects:

Student Sustainability Summit - about how different universities and unions tackle sustainability issues. Sam reported that it was really useful to hear from different people, sharing things that worked and things that didn’t. Sam has written up updates and shared with the relevant committees.

Blackout – very successful with hundreds of volunteers taking part.

LinkedIn Labs – happening on 24^th November on the concourse.

Subtitled screening of the Hunger Games – 29^th November at 17:00 within the Union Films schedule.

Global Athletes – getting sports teams involved in sustainability in a competitive way.

Shift Your Stuff – currently looking at the next steps.

Halls Committees - training for welfare and campaigns officers

It was reported that BEES had come to the end of the two year project and Tori and Sam have met with the BEES Coordinator on the E&E Committee to discuss the future of BEES. There are two student forums happening soon with volunteers and interested people for students to decide where BEES goes next.

There was no update sent. Sam Bailey spoke about funding round two being open with a drop in session planned to ensure that all groups can get advice about funding.

Sam also praised the work of Amnesty, Debating Society and Electric Vehicle Society.

Ethically Divisive Adverts

Frazer let the Committee know that he had submitted an idea to Union Council about ethically divisive adverts and wanted to discuss it with the Committee first. This was prompted by an advert for a fertility clinic that Frazer felt dealt with an ethical issue in a way that other adverts don’t and raised the question of whether there should be some kind of process for approving adverts.

The Committee discussed the issue of where to draw the line between what is acceptable and what isn’t. Amy asked whether anyone had complained – Frazer said that he had spoken to Ben Franklin and there had been a few complaints.

Amy said the things that SUSU wouldn’t advertise, such as tobacco and alcohol are in line with SUSU’s message, but by making rules about what is allowed suggests that SUSU has a stance on the issues.

Sam said that the discussion wasn’t necessarily about the particular fertility clinic advert, but rather about the process of approval and there had been issues in the past with a church that regularly advertises.

The Committee discussed whether other adverts promoted unhealthy lifestyle or could be seen as pressuring students to make difficult decisions, and ultimately it was agreed that a discussion at Union Council would be useful.

As there was no other business, the meeting was closed at 15:36.