SUSTAINABALL: THE JOYS OF ETHICS

BY JOE LEE

THE UNIVERSITY OF York is home to clubs and societies of all types, with regular meetups and socials occurring all time, however; towards the end of the Winter term a few of these societies decided to hold a special event. The SustainaBall is one worth highlighting, with months of planning and the combination of multiple environment related societies - spearheaded by Saskia Kirchschlager, President of EnviroSoc – the Ball had been created with a greener world in mind. But does a greener night make it less exciting? Not at all!

With 85 tickets sold, this was the first event held by the EnviroSoc at this scale and formality – Black Tie.

The main intent of this ball was to bring societies together to celebrate a common goal, achieve more co-operation and a larger network.

Set in a large hall at the Park Inn by Radisson, guests were greeted by a glass of champagne on entry, and the fanciful night began. Seating was for the most part organised by society and each table was labelled by species of tree, in keeping with the environmental theme. In the middle of each table were some small pots of greenery surrounded by a chain of leaves and handmade flowers (which were also spread throughout the hall.) The tables were supplied with four bottles of water, two still and two sparkling, from the company Brita; the ‘water was purified and bottled on site as part of our global commitment to reducing waste, transport and saving energy’, it’s safe to say it fit with the essence of the night. At each seat were the standard ta- bleware along with a nameplate to specify your seat and bread and butter to keep you satisfied till the starters arrived.

A survey was sent out to all ticket holders before the event so they could specify dietary requirements and choose their order, with both vegetarian and vegan options appearing for all 3 courses. This was done such that all food was made to order to ensure minimal wastage. The meals were stunning both in visuals and taste and I would highly recommend going to at least one ball in your lifetime just to have your try of the fancy foods.

Throughout the night there were speeches from the head of RockSoc, Saskia and Anushka (a YUSU Environment and Ethics Officer), offering thanks to the lovely people behind the creation of the night, explaining its purpose and talking about the cause this collective of people were fighting for. This collective was perfectly characterised by the quote from Anushka’s speech, ‘ A fantastic fusion of passionate students who want to contribute to climate action in their own ways.’

When the meals were finished and the speeches were over the dancefloor lit up and the DJ started playing the classic hits. People were slow to the dancefloor but gradually it filled up and the dancing could only be described as … unique. But, everyone was so caught up in the moment that the questionability of the groovy moves were irrelevant.

The night was without doubt a classy, environmentally beneficial and brilliantly thought-out event, even going so far as to have a professional photographer at- tend and take pictures of everyone in their suits/dresses with a portion of the wall specifically designed for pictures to be taken there. There may be more events currently in the works for people to be excited for.

I asked Joe and Saskia of the EnviroSoc if there was any message they’d like to send out to represent their vision for the universities environmental communities and this was their response: ‘To create an environment where people feel comfortable and safe. Let’s create a big network promoting interaction.’

The University of York is full of societies targeting spreading positivity into the world, some you may never have heard of, so why not have a look around and see if there’s any you’d like, you might miss out on a truly special experience if not.