BURLINGTON, Vt.--Carolyn Schmidt of Whiting is participating this month in an international conference on corporate responsibility which will take her to Salvador, Brazil. Schmidt is a member of the staff and board of directors of ECOLOGIA, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Middlebury, and an adjunct professor at Champlain College in Burlington.
From March 7-11, she will meet with representatives from around the globe to create the first draft of a social responsibility standard for the ISO (International Organization of Standards).
The task is to set a framework for the 21st century for how well treat people and the environment, Schmidt said. Whatever the ISO does, it will probably become the global standard.
The conference will address two main categories: social responsibility of business, including the treatment of workers around the world, and environmental responsibility, including pollution and sustainable development.
The ISO is accepting the concept that corporations are supported by and dependent on people and the environment, Schmidt said. Its a big step forward. I think its an exciting process to be a part of.
Schmidt is the board secretary for ECOLOGIA as well as the US project manager for the organizations Virtual Foundation and project director for International Exchange Programs. She is also a member of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, which she describes as a tremendous resource for information.
A former high school social studies teacher, Schmidt now teaches sociology and interpersonal communication courses at Champlain College. She anticipates that this international experience will provide additional real-world examples to share with her students.
Sociology teaches you a different conceptual framework for assessing a situation--its a way of thinking flexibly, she said. She added that strong communications skills will be important at the conference, where she expects to employ the Vermont approach to finding a common ground. ISO is a consensus-based process, she explained.
Drafting the corporate responsibility standard for ISO is expected to take three years. Teams from Sweden and Brazil are taking the lead in the project and significant efforts have been made to involve developing countries, which are home to 80 percent of the worlds population, Schmidt said.
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