Last night, AMS councillors met to discuss sustainability goals, the quarter three budget report and the preliminary rollout of an AMS emergency alert system.
Sustainability goals progress
The AMS Sustainability Priorities Progress Report, presented by VP Administration Amy Liao, provided updates on the sustainability goals set by her office.
According to Liao, 20 action items have been completed, not including campaigns and events such as Plant-Based September and Climate Emergency Week 2025. An additional 15 items are in-progress, and 5 have been “changed because of external factors.”
On the 20 completed items, Liao said her office had successfully created the carpool bike-share map, which will be distributed to staff members in the near future, updated the Nest’s prayer space, completed a waste audit of the Nest and organized a sustainability training program for club executives.
Other completed goals include incorporating allergen and dietary restriction labels on food products at Nourish, Blue Chip and The Gallery and maintaining partnerships with UBC organizations and AMS clubs.
“We've not only maintained our partnership with SEEDS, Sustainability Hub, Sustainability Ambassadors, Common Energy, but also have focused deeply on supporting our own clubs,” Liao said.
“Whether that is by providing the training … [or] working with clubs in identifying their own sorting habits … we've been committed to helping, answering questions and encouraging clubs to be more sustainable within their operations.”
On the 15 ongoing items, Liao said that her office is receiving stakeholder feedback on the AMS Equity Action Plan & AMS Air Travel and Expenditures Policy (PC7). She also said that the committee is collaborating with UBC Women’s Centre to install menstrual product dispensers and sharps disposal containers in Nest washrooms, with project completion slated for this summer.
On the five pivoted items, Liao said the committee chose to shift their focus to “prioritiz[e] more important things to get quality over quantity.”
At the end of Liao’s presentation, President ‘CK’ Christian Kyle added that sustainability goals, alongside equity and inclusion goals, should be better integrated into each VP office’s executive goals.
“We've had conversations about looking at [this] next year … how we can properly make sure that it's not the VP admin [saying] ‘why wasn't this done?’” said Kyle. “[And] really making sure [sustainability is] in the operational work and goals [of all VP offices].”
Q3 budget report, via Blooket
Interim VP Finance Amber Dhaliwal discussed the third Financial Quarterly Report through Blooket (similar to the quiz app Kahoot). According to her presentation, alcoholic beverages have continued seeing reduced sales at the Pit, and Nourish is also underperforming.
Regarding Nourish, AMS Managing Director Justin Lieu said “it's not making as much money as we thought it would.”
Dhaliwal also noted that the AMS Food Bank has reported 6,600 user interactions — the highest number among AMS services. Finally, Dhaliwal said the AMS Block Party is set to stay within the AMS Events’ annual budget.
Introducing emergency text alerts
According to Lieu, the AMS is also working to implement an alert emergency tech system to send staff and volunteers vital information in the event of a Nest emergency.
Last October, the Nest was evacuated due to reports of an armed man. The RCMP later confirmed that they arrested a youth with a water gun. According to Ubyssey coverage, UBC Alert did not release an announcement during or following the incident.
Lieu added that the AMS alert system would be optional for staff and volunteers.
“We're exploring more broadly how we can open up and expand [the alert system] beyond … if there's a major emergency,” said Lieu.
A previous version of this story misspelled the name of AMS Managing Director Justin Lieu. The Ubyssey regrets this error.
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