Green Machine on Campus

Following trials of different makes of electric vehicles, Environmental Services in HAS (Hospitality and Accommodation Services), purchased the “Green Machine” at the end of April and took delivery a month later. Our colleagues in Design and Publications came up with the attractive and striking graphics for the vehicle following working on a “green brief”, we certainly think it is eye catching!
Electric vehicles are a more efficient way of converting fossil fuels into mechanical energy. The Green Machine is charged overnight by plugging into a standard 13 amp power socket and takes advantage of the University’s own combined heat and power station, which produces both electricity and heat from natural gas. The vehicle has a range of over 40 miles and does not need to be charged every evening. And of course there are no emissions during the use of the vehicle.

(Taken directly from Environment and Sustainability Website)
http://www.environment.bham.ac.uk/news_stories/greenmachine.shtml

Obama or McCain: who would make the White House greener?

Who do you think is greener?

Find out what others think here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/20/network-usa

Why not come along to the Guild Election night Party and see how much influence its really had:

(Party said in the loosest of terms, perhaps a pillow would do you more good than a bottle of vodka)

American elections result party
Midnight 4th Novemeber - 6.30am

Tickets cost £5, food and drink may be provided.

Joe's Bar

Have you been following the race between John McCain & Barack Obama?Are you on the edge of your seat waiting to see who wins the election?Do you want to watch the result unfold with like minded people? This election is one of the most exciting in recent memory, with not only a close race, but the voting intentions of several states, such as Virginia and Colorado, hanging in the balance.The Guild of Students has an un-missable event designed just for you. Joe’s bar is opening its doors to all those who are keen to watch the result live. You can come along and cheer on your candidate.

Don’t delay buy your tickets today!If you want any more information or to get a ticket please contact Tom Marley t.marley@guild.bham.ac.uk

Plastic Bags, just say no!

This is part of an article taken off PlanetArk.com

http://www.planetark.com/campaignspage.cfm/newsid/7/story.htm

Plastic Bags - Just say "No!"
20 million Australians currently use around 5 billion plastic check-out bags every year.That so few people can use so much plastic says a lot about our wasteful habits.
A person's use of a plastic check-out bag can be counted in minutes - however long it takes to get groceries from the shops to their homes. These bags, however, can last for hundreds of years.
Combine the growing number of plastic bags used every year with the time it takes for them to break down and you have a major environmental problem.
Whether it's inadvertent or deliberate, plastic bag litter creates many problems. Bags get caught in fences and median strips. They end up blocking drains and trapping birds. When eaten they kill livestock.
At Bathurst's Mt Panorama race track, they even disable racing cars.
In the marine environment, plastic bag litter is lethal, killing thousands of whales, turtles and other sea life every year.

To find out more about plastic bags and their environmental affect just search google

here i have added a few websites that have some more basic information:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/13/plasticbags.pollution

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-532233/Banish-bags-Darling-promises-new-law-2009-shops-act-themselves.html

http://www.recycle-more.co.uk/nav/page1976.aspx (for amusement)

Should we be following the trend and start charging for plastic bags in our retail outlets?

What do you think?

Vice President, Services and Environment : The planning can start

There has been a anme and remit change for the Residence associations 'Vice President, Serivces'

It now includes ................. 'and Environment'.

This position will go a long way in looking at, and reducing our student societies environmental impact and hopefully will be able to reove some of the barriers to positive environmental behaviour.


A few facts that are on the original motion, but you may want to read again:

• 
  On average, 507 kilograms of household waste was produced per
  person in the West Midlands in 2006-7
  http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/progress/regional/documents/west_midlands_factsheet.pdf


• 
  Recycling two glass bottles saves enough energy to boil water for five cups of tea.
  http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/topic.aspx
  
  
• Recycling just one plastic bottle can save the same amount of energy needed to power a 60 watt light bulb for 6 hours.
  
  
  
  I'm really excited about the amount we can achieve as a team.
  
  

If your a first year, living in halls of residents and what to know a bit more about what the role will entail and the fun you can have ;) im here to help.

Fly me to the mooon

After Guild Council decided changed the the flying policy for staff and officers from no flying apart from in emergency to as a 'last resort', we now get the fun job of deciding what makes up a 'last resort'. If you want to have your say, got an opinion or just want to comment, feel free to drop me a line.

If you want to know how this changes things for your student group, again contact me.

This will not mean the guild will suddenly fly around the world on 'buisness' or use flying as a 'normal' option. Checks and balances will be created in the relavent departments.

Older and Out

Going through the Motions documents, policies have lapsed due to three year cycle.

If you have any questions about which motions these are, and want information about what to do now, contact either me or the guild directly.

People and Planet: Shared Planet 21st - 23rd Nov : Comes to Birmingham Uni

Shared Planet is coming to Birmingham University. The People and Planet student Group and National P & P head office are hosting event at our University.

Find out more here:

http://peopleandplanet.org/events/sharedplanet


Does your student group have any events coming up that you want to publicise? Let me know.

Thanks Julien

I would just like to thanks Julien Pritchard for his help and support during the election and handover. Although I may not have been his first choice candidate, his professionalism and friendliness shone through.

After not getting a lot of handover training himself, he realised for the Guild to Progress, especially with our position, it would be pointless spending 6months finding our feet to only have another 6months left and therefore made an effort to provide me with some good handover sessions, even if they did normally end in jovial debating.

I want to wish him all the best in the future with wherever life takes him.

Woop woop, we get Bronze:

Well done to the Guild and staff involved, especially the last VPDR and E and E officer, Buildings Management and Venues staff who all pulled together to create a bloody big document outlining our commitment to reducing our environmental impact of both the Union and the Student Experience and increasing our facilities last academic year. This work book and competition is provided by NUSSL.

You can find out more about the Sound Impact Awards at
http://www.nus.org.uk/About-NUS/Ethical--Environmental/Sound---an-ethical-and-environmental-brand/

We have now received the new workbook and got started, fingers crossed, we will be heading for silver this year!

Advisory Group on the Environment 3rd June:

During handover Julien, my predecessor, thought it a good idea to take me along to the last Advisory Group meeting so I didn’t get such a shock when I was solo.
This meeting is a branch of the Environment, Health and Safety Executive Committee. On this Committee there are related academics, related groups such as a member of HAS and the Estates Office and me and Hannah, VPDR, as the Guild representatives.


Outcomes of this meeting to publicise:

· The university have a new waste and recycling contract with Confi-Shred.
o More types of paper will be able to be recycled.
o Bin less offices are going to be tried by different departments.
The idea is that without a bin under your desk, you are more likely to
recycle. I have personally previously worked in a bin less office.
What I noted is that there were many complains for the first few weeks,
but as people got use to the situation, there were no issues.
o Within the near future external on site recycled bins will be provided
for all to use on the side of the path. The timescale for this is still
to be confirmed

· Julien and Simon Fairbanks (last VPDR) gave a presentation on the ‘Sound Impact Awards’ and our success of a Bronze Award and spoke about next year the guild being involved with a pilot project by NUSSL to reduce energy waste from drinks machines and games machines.

· The University has been ‘highly commended’ in the ‘Continuous Improvement’ Category of the Green Gown Awards.
Find out more about the Green gown awards here:

http://www.eauc.org.uk/green_gown_categories_announced

There was talk of ‘Vale Fest’ being able to enter in the Students Innovation award, and I really hope this takes off, best of luck with your submission.

· The University has not signed up to the People and Planets Green Education Declaration it is going to be looked into whether an amended version will be signed by the Uni.The Environment Agency’s Report showed general satisfaction with waste management and pollution measures at the university although it has been flagged up about people smoking near hazardous substance storage areas. This is going to be reviewed in the coming months.

Any ideas?:

Are you in halls? Can you think of simple ways to save electricity or water and want to shout about it? Are your recycling bins overflowing?

Are you living in Selly Oak and are having problems with recycling collection days? provision of green bins? or your waste is not being collected when it should?

Let me know and the information can be relayed to the City Council or passed on to other students, it would be great to hear from you.

Hello!!!

As Ethical and Environmental Officer I want to work to ensure that Ethical and Environmental implications are considered within Guild Decisions.

I am not just here to support related societies internally within the Guild, but support every student that is finding more barriers to being more environmentally friendly than support.

This year I wish to increase links with the University and the Hospitality and Accommodation Services through the all avenues and ensure we are working together to create an aware and active community.

I hope to blog about the outcomes of these meetings as well as providing a general account of what I have been up to.

At any point if you would like more details about whats going on please don't hesitate to contact me directly.