Ethical and Environmental Committee (14th October 2015)

The Chair welcomed all members to the meeting. Maxime Julian (student) was also present.

The minutes were not available for the Committee to approve so it was agreed to continue the meeting without approving the minutes from the last meeting.

Members introduced themselves and briefly outlined their roles to the rest of the Committee.

 

• Blackout 

Dan updated the committee that Blackout was scheduled for 13^th November and that emails to volunteers for Blackout were going out on 19^th November with a target of 210 students. It was reported that Blackout would take place on Highfield Campus, Avenue Campus, Boldrewood and Winchester School of Art. At present there were seven committee members, with ideally three more people and it was suggested that Amy and Sam sit on the committee as non-voting members, which was agreed. Sam stated that no more money from SUSU will be spent on Blackout hoodies and that people will be encouraged to reuse their previous Blackout hoodies.

Sam said that glow in the dark wristbands had been ordered in the different colours of the Blackout coloured zones. A bulk order was placed with wristbands being able to be reused in future years.

Dan reported that The Bridge would be used as the main venue for the after party, which would be within walking distance for volunteers from Avenue and Boldrewood. A minibus had been hired to transport volunteers from Winchester, and volunteers from Southampton General Hospital could get the bus. Amy asked whether they would be compensated. The Committee agreed that volunteers from the Hospital would be reimbursed for their bus journey.

 

• HEAT

Amy updated the Committee on HEAT, a free saving energy scheme for student houses. A meeting had taken place recently with Student Switch Off, who were interested in working with HEAT. Amy will be meeting them again next week and report back to the committee.

 

• BEES

Sam explained that funding for Business Ethics and Environmental Students (BEES) project from the National Union of Students (NUS) had now ended. This left two opportunities for the future of BEEs - a toolkit that could be marketed to other universities and unions and a possible student group that could be set up. There is funding allocated in the Sustainability budget for BEES over the coming year, and the committee would have input as to the future of BEES in Southampton.

 

• Shift Your Stuff

Sam and Amy explained that Shift Your Stuff was a huge success with 4 tonnes of items donated. This presented logistical problems in getting items to charities and therefore this year, Ian Williams (Professor of Applied Environmental Science at the University) was planning to lead a masters student project in analysing Shift Your Stuff’s progress and helping to develop a toolkit to use in future years.

 

• Live my City

Live my City - a project intending to publicise shops, cafes and businesses which promote sustainable living. 1000 Live my City maps have been printed, which can be used for future events such as fair trade week. There was also the possibility of a website being developed in the future.

 

• Swap shop

Amy updated the Committee that planning is underway for swap shop, the first of which is intended to be end of the term. Unfortunately the Cube cannot be booked in time, so SUSU meetings rooms could be used instead. The Committee agreed that this wasn’t an ideal solution, but Sam commented that marketing could be used on the concourse to direct people downstairs and Amy said that the Swap Shop was already an established, successful event and people were likely to make the effort to go regardless of the location.

 

• Southampton Hub

Amy updated to the Committee that Madlaina, the Sustainability Programme Coordinator for Southampton Hub had contacted Amy looking to audit the waste in SUSU outlets, such as The Café and The Bridge. The Committee agreed that this was a good idea, but would be challenging to do in reality.

 

• Waste wars

The Committee agreed that it was important to decide a date for Waste Wars early, so that the Cube could be booked. It will also be the 10^th anniversary of the event and planning is underway but space and contacting volunteers still need doing.

The Committee had a discussion on how to appeal to new members – with an agreement that a Communications Coordinator would be extremely helpful to the Committee.

 

There was also a discussion on future projects. Amy contributed the idea of banning venues from selling bottled water on campus. This would present various challenges, such as health and safety concerns, and therefore the Committee agreed to research how other Unions had managed to do it. Amy also had the idea of Freshers’ being able to trade in their free bus pass in order to get the monetary equivalent in vouchers to buy a bike instead. The Committee raised the issue that lots of E&E events happen towards the end of the year, so Dan suggested that the Sustainability Festival could happen earlier, and Sam put forward the idea that more could be done to target the Blackout volunteers. Maxime said that the Committee need to do more to promote success stories, in order to attract new members.

 

The following position was elected:

BEES Coordinator – Maxime Julian

As there was no other business the meeting closed at 15:30.

The date of the next meeting will be November 11 at 14:00.