Hopefully most of you are by now aware that in our Students Union we're installing boxes to allow people to make a donation to a water charity when they make use of the newly installed fountains. This means students get free water on demand, there is a much lower environmental impact and we make a contribution to helping people around the world get access to clean water.

A couple weeks ago we met to decide which charities would recieve the funds raised. Four charities applied for the funds, and we together decided to put TASTE and Dig Deep Africa forwards as our finalists. Students then over the past week have voted to decide the winner.

There were a few issues with false votes, and as a result there was no clear winner. We decided the fairest thing to do is to split the funds evenly between the two charities. So for the immediate future, Sheffield Union and its members will be supporting both Dig Deep Africa and TASTE.

Thanks to all those who voted, and we're hoping that we can together make a difference to help these two amazing charities with the wonderful work they do.

Ethical and Environmental Committee Minutes

Date: Wednesday 9nd May

Time: 4:00pm- 5:00pm

Meeting Room: Gallery Eye, Student Union

Attended: Jacob, Tom, Tim, Miriam, Alex, Lauren, Jess, Becky, Harry, Andrei
Apologies: Emily, Darcy, Katie, Sarah

1. Society Picture Day (16th May)

1. There’s a photographer hired to be set up in the Activities Zone next Wed, 10am-6pm.
2. Committee will get group pictures at 5pm after the meeting

1. Campaigning Societies Collective (CSC)
   1. We discussed E&E’s relationship to the CSC, especially in terms of overlap, and how E&E should function to minimise overlap.
   2. The Campaigning Societies Collective has talked about holding a large scale week-long event in November, which would split attendance between EEK Week and this.
   3. At the next meeting, E&E members attending will suggest the week event to be held at a different time of year.
   4. It was recommended for E&E members to attend the next CSC meeting, held Thursday 17th (time and place unconfirmed).

 

1. Vegetarian promotions at ACS
   1. Committee heard back about the promotions at ACS from the ACS marketing department.
   2. They will hold promotions for National Vegetarian Week through more vegetarian options, posters and a student-wide email to those living in Residences.
   3. They will also draw up a list of food-related events to tie into, such as Fairtrade Fortnight and Love British Food Fortnight.

1. Hoodies
   1. As of the meeting, hoodies hadn’t arrived, though since the meeting they have.
   2. Jacob will collect the hoodies and bring them to the meeting next week.

 

1. Unfilled positions on Committee
   1. It was noted that the positions missing from Committee include Green Team Leaders, a Design Team and a Webmaster.
   2. It was agreed that the current committee will collectively hold those roles for the meanwhile, with the aim of holding an EGM early next year.
   3. We will therefore work together to boost membership of the Green Team and push for a competent pair of leaders to lead them.
   4. We should also hold a meeting before Intro Week to discuss these plans in practise and to be prepared.

1. The Constitution
   1. Committee discussed our constitution, and voted on it.
   2. Jacob promises to write it all up when he has time.

1. Enterprise EEK Week Event
   1. Another meeting with the Enterprise group has been set up to discuss further how the event will take shape on Thursday 17th May, 3-4pm in the Enterprise Zone.
   2. The idea is that we get together a list of ethical/environmental problems that need solving, such as a list of things that could be improved specifically or a wider theme such as water conservation
   3. Then students take the suggestions/themes, group up and come up with suggestions and ideas specifically how ACS could implement them.
   4. E&E will help with advice and vetting out unfeasible ideas.
   5. The winning suggestion will be put into place in Student Residences
   6. Committee will come up with ideas for this before and during our meeting next week to discuss with the Enterprise group on the meeting the following day.

1. ACS Energy and Environmental Forum
   1. Andy Woffindin is meeting with ACS to propose the suggestions we raised at the ACS Energy and Environment Forum on the morning of Wednesday 16th.
   2. He will attend our meeting also on that day to tell us the results.

 

1. Any Other Business
   1. End of Year Social
      1. A social was suggested, we’ll use a Facebook poll to determine when is best for most people.
   2. A ‘green guide’
      1. It was suggested E&E could write a Green Guide for other societies and even students
      2. This will be discussed further in relation to our aims and objectives.

Next meeting

Wednesday 16th May

Time: 4:00pm- 5:00pm

Meeting Room: Gallery Eye, Student Union

 

Our next meeting on Wednesday 9th February will involve the writing of our constitution. The constitutional review traditionally happens every year, and we will review everything in it, including

• How often we meet
• How we hold our AGM (do members apply before the AGM, which voting system we use, etc)
• What our aims and goals for the year are
• Which positions we have on the committee
• Shared and individual responsibilities
• What number of people do we need to pass new motions
• Some other bits

As always, everyone is welcome to come along and help us shape our focus for the upcoming year. It should be an interesting process to get everyone on the same page with what we want and it works best if everyone comes with some of their own ideas.

The meeting is 4-5pm in the Gallery Eye. We look forward to seeing you!
~ Jacob 

(ps, if you're wondering why Ron Paul is up there, it's because he's the original constitutionalist!)

Ethical and Environmental Committee Minutes

Date: Wednesday 2nd May

Time: 4:00pm- 5:00pm

Meeting Room: Gallery Eye, Student Union

1. The Constitution
   1. It was noted that Committee currently has two constitutions, and that we need to whittle that down to one.
   2. It was agreed by committee to do as a task before Summer, and hence is scheduled in for the meeting during the following week: 4-5pm on Wednesday 9th May in the Gallery Eye.

1. Water Charity Selection
   1. Following on from last week (see minutes from Wed 25th April), the second half of the meeting was used to decide upon our Union’s selected water charity.
   2. We agreed to select two charities and then allow the vote for the final decision to go to student choice, to widen participation and raise awareness of the existence of the charity boxes.
   3. Claire from RAG came to give us information on which areas are important (such as location, sustainability), emphasise the differences and give general suggestions and useful information.
   4. Upon consideration of the proposals sent from the charities the preceding week, the strengths and differences were noted with weighting to how much the differences matter.
   5. Ultimately Committee decided to select Dig Deep Africa and TASTE due to their locality (both in Sheffield), and how this can tie in with future cooperation with them.
   6. Committee members decided to meet Sunday 6th May, 3pm in the Information Commons to write a short paragraph for each charity to be submitted to student referendum.

1. Vegetarian Food ACS Promotion
   1. As we have not heard from the ACS marketing team since last week when Gavin Brown (Commercial Operations Manager from ACS) agreed to establish contact between E&E and ACS marketing team, we have decided to take active actions to email ACS marketing team to see what ideas they have in mind, and E&E are willing to come up with ideas if needed.
   2. Jacob will send an email to Gavin Brown putting forward our suggestions.
   3. The potential events from this cooperation between ACS and E&E hence can be our first focus topic for our blog.
   4. We shall at the same time contact vegetarian and vegan society about this collaboration..

1. Any Other Business
   1. Hoodies
      1. Money for hoodies was collected, members who hadn’t yet paid were asked to bring the money next week.

1. Campaigns Collective
   1. It was noted that the first meeting of the Campaigns Collective is to be held 6-7pm on Thursday 3rd May in Gallery Room 4 in the Union.
   2. Further, a strong presence from E&E Committee would be conducive to utilization of a wider pool of campaigners for pur campaigns and others.

1. USE EEK Week session
   1. Further to discussions last week, the Sheffield Enterprise group wish to hold an event for EEK Week 2012/13, and a meeting has been set up for the exchange of ideas.
   2. Members concerned will meet on Thursday 3rd May, 3-4pm in the Enterprise Zone.

1. Bring It, Don’t Bin It
   1. Tim called for volunteers for helping at the stall, giving out leaflets to students, and the sorting for the week 29th May to 3rd June.
   2. The sorting day is then held on the 13th June, which will also require help.
   3. Volunteers are also needed for photo taking for information pack about ‘Bring iI, Don’t Bin It’ to be sent to new students next year when they arrive.

1. NUS Environmental Survey
   1. A survey of over 1000 students was done, and the results are to be examined in further detail for relevance to our operations.
   2. One statistic noted was that 66% of students haven’t heard of EEK Week.
   3. This survey infers more effort should be put in publicizing environmental events. E&E see this as a key focus next year.

Next meeting

Wednesday 9th May

Time: 4:00pm- 5:00pm

Meeting Room: Gallery Eye, Student Union

 

EEK Week 2012/13

- Committee agreed that we should continue to run EEK Week and next time aim to focus on publicizing ourselves and what we do.

- Hoodies, our logo, videos and other things can help us in this by catching students’ attention.

- We should also begin planning EEK Week early (within the next few weeks then fleshing out ideas over Summer to have a very clear idea when we come back in September).

- Tim suggests that the overall theme of E&E in EEK Week could focus on one topic (e.g. vegetarian promotion)

- Another idea raised was teaming with Sheffield Enterprise to start a competition, such as a ‘green Dragon’s Den’, and we could think of awards.

 - The importance of involving non-E&E societies was raised. Last year non-related societies were also interested in holding events. This is seen to be hugely important to help environmental concerns appear as part of the mainstream rather than a niche concern.

 

Zone Online

- The idea was raised of writing a society guide on ‘how to be green’ for societies, which will definitely be considered again.

 

Vegetarian Concerns

- Our first report back from ACS after the Ethical and Environmental Forum was received. Gavin Brown (Commercial Operations Manager) wrote to Tim say that he has agreed to promote vegetarian dishes and wants to establish contact between us and the ACS Marketing Team.

- We could use this as an opportunity to promote events such as Meat-Free Monday and Part-Time Carnivore campus-wise. 

- This could be done through posters, extra points on vegetarian meals, discounts or special recipes.

- E&E agreed to contact Vegetarian and Vegan Society to ask their advice on the subject, and whether they have any suggestions for promotion.

- We are still waiting for contact from the ACS marketing team at this moment (Sun-29-April 2012)

- Committee could further facilitate this goal by working with Vegetarian and Vegan Society to promote meat-free food on campus itself, framed in a constructive way.

 

Sunflower Competition

- The ‘Sunflower Competition’ suggested by Andrei earlier was brought back to the table. 

- The idea is essentially having each society/committee grown their own sunflower in a public area and the award will go to the owner of the tallest growing sunflower. 

- The main practical problem is to find an appropriate area for all these sunflower pots. 

• The committee agreed that the competition would be a good idea but it would require more discussion when it actually takes place.

 

Our blog/newsletter

- Miriam suggested to make our online presence more interesting, the task of writing something for our blog should switch between different committee members, each writing about a topic of interest to them

- Committee agreed to be interested in doing this, so it shall take place starting this year.

- We can start in two weeks time, with Jacob bringing the subject up next Wed (2nd May) for someone to do for the week ending Fri-11th-May, giving members nine days to write their newsletter / blog post.

 

Beehives

- Tim has wrote a proposal about setting up a beehive project, which could be approved/rejected within the next couple of weeks.

- Committee discussed suggestions of how to take advantage of this should it be approved.

- Keen students could get the appropriate training to go to the hive to collect honey

- At a lower level of involvement, the two potential beekeepers would be happy to show students the beehive (two people at a time, due to problems with too many people). A suggestion raised was joining this with ‘Give it a Go’.

- It’s a very photogenic project which would be of great interest to many students

- The honey could feed back into the Union shop somehow, though the amounts would be very small.

- Tim will report back when he has more information.

 

Water Charity

- Since the removal of all bottled water from the Union Shop, the brand ‘Life Water’ as well as other bottled water companies that operate as a social enterprise are experiencing decreased profits.

- This was to be countered by putting donation boxes next to the water fountains, which are already in place but missing any form of information about what they are since a charity for the proceeds to benefit hasn’t been decided upon.

- Committee will join with People and Planet (specifically the members who organised the bottled water removal) and RAG (especially those with experience deciding upon particular charities) to decide on the charity/charities to benefit.

- The choice will either be to decide upon our favourite charity then and there or decide on two and put the choice to an all-student vote.

 - Claire from RAG will attend our meeting next week at 4.30pm to inform us about the charities and we’ll collectively decide.

 

Bring It, Don’t Bin It

- Tim reminded E&E of the need for volunteers for the Bring It, Don’t Bin It collection date. This involves planning sack collection, making a stall to inform people before the end of term and encouraging those finishing to give their old items to the cause for charity.

- Committee members were generally interested in participating, if they’re available at the collection time.