Buying less and buying local are some of the thoughts shared as a result of our global economics seminar held in Menomonie, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, November 6-9, 2007. By touring places like distribution centers, farms, and factories we learned more about consumerism from the manufacturer’s point of view. We also learned about the need for and impact of US companies outsourcing work and importing goods to keep costs low to consumers. For example, we learned about a lake in Taiwan being destroyed because it was turned into a Tilapia farm – making Tilapia more affordable to the US consumers and virtually inaccessible to people living in Taiwan.
Many of our seminar presenters provided us with information about world leaders like the US, China and India and how population, economy and use of resources is impacting the world at large. Two key concepts that were repeated throughout the seminar were the need to work toward a sustainable workforce and prepared leaders. Chancellor Don Betz, UW River Falls said, “it’s a great time for leadership” as he talked about the global economics providing “hyper opportunity” for people throughout the world. He stressed that as leaders we need to educate ourselves about global issues so that we can better understand issues impacting our communities locally. We live in a world of information overload and this seminar was an important reminder of the work ahead to learn about what’s happening in the world beyond our village, city and county lines.
This seminar was co-chaired by Gary Kirking, Regional Manager, Western Technical College-Tomah and WRLP alumni, and Jerry Hembd, Associate Professor and State Specialist, Northern Center for Community and Economic Development, Department of Business and Economics, University of Wisconsin-Superior/UW Extension.
Vanessa Llanas is an outreach specialist with the Special Needs Family Center, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Lori Grabske is an artist and farmer from Watertown; and Christy Gwidt is a sales and marketing specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections in Madison. |
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