ISO Revisions Seek Overarching Guidance on 14001 Environmental Management Systems and Other ISO Standards

Revisions are being undertaken in ISO 14001 in order to create an overarching format in conformity with Annex SL (previously ISO Guide 83) which defines the framework for a generic management system. This new guidance is holistic and is intended to end conflicts, duplication, confusion and misunderstanding from different MSS management systems. Since being issued in 1996 and then revised in 2004, the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems standard has been adopted by more than 250,000 organizations around the world.

Annex SL, is described as a “high level structure and identical text for management system standards and common core management system terms and definitions.” Annex SL offers overarching guidance on ISO management system standards (MSS). It is intended to help explain how different standards fit together with minimum redundancy. Annex SL offers a common format, structure and core requirements for ISO 14001, ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and ISO 50001.

Event - New England Independent Schools Sustainability Conference: GSAx Northeast

GSAx Northeast will take place on April 15, 2013, between 9am and 3pm, in Windsor, Connecticut. This event is Hosted by Loomis Chaffee and Co-Sponsored by Suffield Academy and the Green Schools Alliance. Educators and students will be present at this conference which focuses on what really works in independent schools. Participants can attend workshops and meet vendors providing innovative, energy-saving solutions.

GSAx Regional Conferences, Training Workshops and Resource Fairs, co-sponsored and hosted by a GSA School, bring schools together with experts, businesses and non-profit organizations to share knowledge and grow the movement.

Queens College Residence has a LEED Gold Rating

Late in 2011, Consultant Community Environmental Center (CEC) announced that Queens College’s Summit Residence Hall received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold rating, which is the second highest level of LEED certification.

The Summit, Queens College’s first residence hall, opened in August 2009. The building accommodates 506 beds for students and also includes a conference room, a fitness center and a lounge. Queens College, as part of the CUNY system, agreed to purchase renewable energy for 100 percent of the building’s electricity usage for the first two years of the building’s operation.

The Natural Step Framework

The Natural Step (TNS)Framework it is a comprehensive model for planning in complex systems. It is openly published and free for all to use. The TNS Framework is based on systems thinking; recognizing that what happens in one part of a system affects every other part. This scientifi­cally rigorous Framework gives organisations the tools to perform a gap analysis using the lens of sustainability, and then work toward closing the gap. Furthermore, The Natural Step Framework complements other sustainability tools and methodologies, such as life cycle analysis or environmental management systems, by providing the context and strategic vision that makes them more effective.