Trade and Sustainability:  
       From Local to Global


Why I created this website   
I created this website to share what I have learned about the pursuit of sustainability. What is working?  What has the potential to work even better?   To supplement this website, my blog www.mariposapaulette.com includes   stories about people and their actions that make a difference. In addition,  I love to share what I have learned through public presentations and workshops.  See the links to your left. 

My experiences 
I am a Michigan State University professor, writer, and concerned citizen.   During my travels in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, England, Cuba. and beyond, I have learned about grassroots tools including Fair Trade, direct trade, cooperatives, local production and purchasing, organics, and micro-finance.   

During my career I have studied international trade agreements and how they promote or impede sustainable development.  The agreements include the North American Fair Trade Agreement (NAFTA), The Dominican Republic - Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Meso-American Development Plan (originally called the Plan Puebla Panama), and others.  Unfortunately, in many instances, those agreements facilitate unsustainable development.  Therefore,  I focus on ways to engage in trade while protecting people and respecting the Earth.  See below for an introduction to my students' accomplishment as well as a list of countries and U.S. cities in which I have done research.  ​
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What is new?

Spartan Global Development Fund (SGDF) is in the news again with an article published by the Broad College of Business on June 14, 2017.  We are celebrating a $1,378 microloan – one of our largest loans to date – to field partner in Guatemala to help a coffee farmer recover from a fungus that was destroying his crop.  Read about that and many other activities of our passionate SGDF members.  https://broad.msu.edu/2017/06/14/spartan-global-development-fund-business-social-change/  

​On Earth Day, May 2017, I was featured in an article n Be Spartan Green, published by MIchigan State university.   I was delighted that the article featured my work with students in the classroom and through Spartan Global Development Fund.   See https://broad.msu.edu/2017/06/14/spartan-global-development-fund-business-social-change/​

On October 12 2016, the Broad College of Business published an article about my work with coffee farmers in Mexico. One of the founders of the coffee cooperative Maya Vinic visited our college  to help students and community members  learn about cooperatives, Fair Trade, and B Corporations.  See  http://msutoday.msu.edu/360/2016/paulette-stenzel-finding-humanity-in-business/2016/. 

On February 25, 2016, the State News published an article highlight my teaching of ethics in our college and work in Fair Trade and microfinance.  Thanks for spreading the word about important tools for sustainable development. See http://statenews.com/article/2016/02/msu-professor-active-in-fair-trade-movement 

On February 17, 2016, Michigan State University's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACs) published an article about my work on Cuba:  Sustainability and Business in the 21st Century.  It is a follow up to my February 3, 2016 seminar at CLACs.   Thanks to CLACS for featuring my work and to MSU's Department of Finance, Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), and CLACS for finding my research in Cuba this academic year.   See http://latinamerica.isp.msu.edu/news/2553/paulette-stenzel-examines-cubas-triple-bottom-line/    

Moving forward 
First we must dream of living in more sustainable ways and educate ourselves about the means to do so. Then each of must take action.  No one can do everything, but each of us can do something. Thank you for joining me doing so.
                                                    Paulette L. Stenzel, 
                                                    Professor of Sustainability & International Business Law  
                                                    Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University
                                                                                 Contact me at stenzelp@broad.msu.edu

Adviser to Student Organizations at MSU:


Spartan Global Development Fund (SGDF):   SGDF raises funds for microloans for small entrepreneurs in the United States and around the world.  I serve on the board of directors for its companion 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.  Please visit www.spartanglobalfund.org.  
 
Students Today, Leaders Forever:   The MSU chapter of STLF works to engage students leadership through community service projects in the Lansing/East Lansing area throughout the academic year and across the U.S. during spring break.  In March of 2016 we will be sending three busses around the country full of MSU students who are paying their own way and donating time to make a difference in communities across the United States.   We one of the most active chapters in the U.S.! Please visit www.stlf.net .

Sustainability Action Committee
In late 2014,  undergraduate student members of the Broad College Sustainability Action Committee (SAC) installed two water filtration stations in the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University.  The filtration stations allow students and faculty members to avoid the use of fossil fuels to make and transport plastic bottles.  The stations were funded, in part, by a Lewis Quality of Excellence Award from the Broad College of Business.  The award was in recognition of the SAC's  earlier achievements. For more about the SAC, please visit  http://msusustainability.weebly.com/on-campus.html 

Research Related to Sustainability

2016:   A trip to Tanzania on a team to explore the potential for microfinance projects in the rural village of Naitolia in northern Tanzania.  


2015:  Havana, Cuba to study sustainability and community development as the U.S. and Cuba reestablish diplomatic and trade relations.

2014:  Quebec, Quebec for an international forum on cooperatives. 

2014: Minneapolis, Minnesota to study cooperatives.

2013: Madison, Wisconsin to study cooperatives. 

2012: Guatemala to study Direct Trade, Fair Trade, and microfinance.

2010:  Chiapas, Mexico to study Fair Trade, cooperatives, and organics.
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2010:  Traverse City, Michigan area to study organics, Fair Trade, microfinance, and local production.   

2009:  England to lead workshops at Coventry University's International Youth for Fair Trade conference and serve as a delegate to a Fair Trade conference at Oxford University.  

2008:  Ecuador to study perspectives of indigenous people on Fair Trade, industrialized agriculture, and sustainability.
  
2007: Nicaragua to study Fair Trade,  DR- CAFTA, and the Meso-American Development Plan. 

1997 to 2006: Multiple trips to Mexico for research on sustainable development and to lead study abroad groups to study environmental law and business in Mexico.
"Joy in NIcaragua."  

This is Jessica YaJaira Blandón Díaz on the San Juan de Limay River near  Nicaragua's northern border. Her father is a carver of marmolina (soapstone -a stone related to marble) and a member of a Fair Trade cooperative.  Fair Trade gives Jessica's family income to pay for her books and uniforms, enabling her to continue her studies in the local public school.