GIN Workshop February 17-18, 2006

SUSTAINABLE REGIONS AND GLOBAL TRADE

A workshop on global trade and its relation to socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable regional development - at both ends & everywhere in-between.

Presentations, Discussions, Updates, Training, Networking, Exhibits, Site Visits

February 17-18, 2006 - School for International Training - Brattleboro, Vermont, USA

• Speakers & Presenters • Final Program • Location & Travel • Workshop Poster

• Workshop News Coverage
· Letter to the Editor, The Brattleboro Reformer, from Ralph Meima, Workshop Co-chair
· Broadcast Interview with Ralph Meima, Workshop Co-chair
· News Report - The Vermont Guardian
· News Report - The Brattleboro Reformer

• Workshop Challenges
· Where is global trade taking us?
· Where will it leave our communities and businesses?
· What should we do?

• From Global to Regional
This workshop is a further step in the development of the Greening of Industry Network's current focus on Sustainable Regions/Global Economy, connecting local practitioner and grassroots efforts with global networks and debates.

Our approach will be both practical and theoretical, addressing public policy, civil society's role, private initiatives, and management tools and practices, as well as overarching concepts aimed at making sense of today's rapid change and urgent priorities. The scope will encompass issues of progress and sustainability at both the sending and receiving ends of global trade relationships, and two specific cases in focus will be the fair trade movement in New England and the recent creation of a foreign trade zone in Vermont.

• Workshop Challenge: The Vermont Case:
Will our children work in sweatshops in Vernon or Hinsdale someday, making replacement body parts for wealthy IT executives in Bangalore and real-estate tycoons in Shanghai? Will a business visitor to Brattleboro in 2025 travel by electric tram from the train station to the Delta Campus, where wooded hillsides conceal a dense complex of off-the-grid buildings housing the operations center of a global virtual-reality organic food marketplace? Will trade in most commodities like fuels and agricultural products collapse as the price of oil soars, driving a new era of local self-reliance? Will the Brattleboro Foreign Trade Zone become an important regional trade entrepot, as Vermont's dependence on product exports rises to over half of its gross domestic product?

Will the notion of "fair trade" eventually apply as much to exports from Vermont as it does today to imports to Vermont? Is Brattleboro the right place for starting up a fair and ethical trade-based business? What benchmarks should determine what "fair trade" means? What competitive advantages do places like Brattleboro and Windham County possess in relation to today's global and national economic trends? Is our "green-ness" a genuine business asset when it comes to global commerce, or a fashionable but not especially unique feature of Vermont's self-image? What is your opinion about these questions? What are you doing about them?

Join us to debate these and other questions at the "Sustainable Regions and Global Trade" workshop, February 17-18, at the School for International Training, co-organized with the Greening of Industry Network. A diverse, international mix of business people, scholars, civil servants, and others will gather in Brattleboro for the first time to explore how globalization and trade relate to the economic, social, and ecological sustainability of regions like Vermont.

• Workshop Organizers:

World Learning & The School for International Training (SIT)
Founded in 1932 as the U.S. Experiment in International Living, World Learning is the only international organization with both academic and project capabilities dedicated to promoting international education, social justice, and world peace. Through distinctive educational methods based on experiential learning and the integration of theory and practice, the programs of World Learning build knowledge, develop leaders in education and management, contribute to global development, and effect change. World Learning operates programs in more than 45 countries on all continents but Antarctica and (currently) Australia. SIT is the accredited graduate school of World Learning. Visit www.sit.edu for more information.

Brattleboro Foreign Trade Zone (BFTZ)
The Brattleboro Foreign Trade Zone (BFTZ), Brattleboro, Vermont is the newest and one of the largest foreign trade zones in the United States, in existence since late 2005. The Brattleboro Foreign Trade Zone consists of numerous sites in and around the town covering a total of nearly 300 acres. World Learning is one of the original founding applicants, and has proposed using some of the BFTZ for fair trade purposes. Brattleboro is also emerging as an international center for a variety of for-profit and non-profit ventures related to socially responsible business, social enterprise, fair trade, organic food production and commerce, and sustainable living. Read the December 23, 2005 BFTZ Announcement. More on U.S. Foreign Trade Zones. More on Free Trade Zones from Wikipedia.

The Greening of Industry Network (GIN)
The GIN conferences, 25 events in 12 countries around the world since 1991, comprise a unique experience and record of bringing people and the issues together for a big perspective on sustainable development, forging productive connections among research, policy, and practice. GIN has been called the world's premier multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary, and multi-cultural network for practitioners, researchers, students, and advocates of sustainable praxis in industry. Visit www.greeningofindustry.org for more information.

• WORKSHOP THEMES
Management Practices
· Fair trade & Ethical trade: Cases, management practices, financing, regulations, trends.
· Tools of accountability management/CSR in global supply chains.
· Business-led partnerships, capacity-building, and supply-chain consolidation.
· Trade-related social entrepreneurship & socially responsible business.

Local & Regional Policy
· The foreign trade zone concept & regional development.
· Municipal and regional fair trade zones.
· Trade vs. self-reliance in the quest for sustainable local and regional economies.

Global Institutions & Civil Society
· Global and continental institutions and how they impact trade.
· Trade's contributions to social equity, justice, and ecological renewal.
· Supply-chain certification, social audits, and other kinds of NGO-led civil governance.
· Fair trade for disaster relief and sustainable recovery & reconstruction.
· How fair, ethical trade builds bridges between people and communities.

• Who should attend?
· Business owners, investors, entrepreneurs
· Regional and municipal development planners, advocates, and consultants
· Business development professionals
· Fair-trade entrepreneurs, consultants, and advocates
· Supply-chain auditors
· Sustainability/accountability management consultants and trainers
· State and local government officials
· Community and civil society leaders
· Researchers
· Educators
· Students
· Journalists and trend-watchers

• An Invitation to Dialogue
Instead of formal paper presentations, the dominant mode of the workshop will be dialogue. Oral presentations must be kept brief and focus on the workshop challenges and themes. Presenters must also register.

Presentation Guidelines: Rather than having formal paper presentations, the dominant mode of the workshop will be dialogue. Oral presentations should be kept brief, with a few slides, if any at all, sticking to your main points, results, challenges, and questions that will contribute to a discussion of the central issues and plans for next steps. Aim to get the session participants focusing on you and what you are saying, not looking at a lot of text on a screen. Make a brief presentation to provoke discussion and create some results out of your session. PowerPoint and DVD/VHS will be supported, bring pen drives or CDs. PCs will be provided in the session rooms. Other laptops will not be supported. Session rooms are equipped with overhead projecters, chalkboards, and flipcharts.

This workshop is a joint effort of the School for International Training and the Greening of Industry Network, Ralph Meima & Kurt Fischer, Workshop Co-chairs.

ginvermontworkshop@sit.edu