Trade and Sustainability
Tools for the Pursuit of Sustainability: The Triple Bottom Line, Fair Trade, Microfinance, Organics, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and Beyond.
by Paulette L. Stenzel, Professor of International Business Law, Finance Department, Eli Broad College of BUsiness, Michigan State University stenzel@msu.edu
The purpose of this website is to share perspectives on trade and sustainability. I have studied the environmental, social, and economic effects of trade agreements and economic development plans for many years. My research has focused on effects of NAFTA, CAFTA, the GATT, and the Plan Puebla Panama. That research led me to seek ways to make trade more fair and sustainable through tools such as Fair Trade, local production, and microfinance.
by Paulette L. Stenzel, Professor of International Business Law, Finance Department, Eli Broad College of BUsiness, Michigan State University stenzel@msu.edu
The purpose of this website is to share perspectives on trade and sustainability. I have studied the environmental, social, and economic effects of trade agreements and economic development plans for many years. My research has focused on effects of NAFTA, CAFTA, the GATT, and the Plan Puebla Panama. That research led me to seek ways to make trade more fair and sustainable through tools such as Fair Trade, local production, and microfinance.
News:
Spartan Global Development Fund has a new website address and a completely updated website. Check it out at www.spartanglobalfund.org. Spartan Global Development Fund received its 501(c)(3) non-profit status over the summer. As a result of that, they were able to sign an agreement with the non-profit Fair Trade organization Esperanza en Accion to make microloans to Esperanza's producers in Nicaragua.
Meanwhile, MSU Students for Fair Trade are already planning for their Sixth Annual Fair Trade Bash, to take place spring 2012.
I am currently working on articles on the Mainstreaming of Fair Trade and on Teaching Environmental Law and Sustainability within the Business Curriculum. We are all busy!
 | "Joy in NIcaragua." This is Jessica YaJaira Blandón Díaz on the San Juan de Limay River in the mountains near Nicaragua's northern border. Jessica’s father is a carver of marmolina (soapstone -a stone related to marble) and a member of a cooperative of stone-carvers in the town of San Juan de Limay. Fair Trade gives Jessica's family extra income to pay for Jessica’s books and uniforms, enabling her to continue her studies in the local public school. The photo at the top of this page is from my 2004 visit to the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. |
Research Trips2010: Chiapas, Mexico to study Fair Trade and organics, spending time with producers from the Maya Vinic coffee cooperative.
2010: Traverse City, Michigan area for interviews with entrepreneurs involved in organics, Fair Trade, local production, and other movements that promote sustainable life. 2009: England to lead workshops at the International Youth for Fair Trade conference at Coventry University and to serve as a delegate to a Fair Trade conference at the Said Business School, Oxford University. 2008: Ecuador to study Fair Trade and sustainability, focusing on perspectives of indigenous people of the Andes. I also looked at the effects of industrialized agriculture. 2007: Nicaragua to study Fair Trade and the effects CAFTA and the Plan Puebla Panama. I met with Fair Trade producers throughout the country and managers at maquiladoras in Managua's free trade zone. 1997 to 2006: Mexico to lead a study abroad program and study Business in Mexico, the effects of free trade, and ways to pursue more sustainable trade. | Advisor 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. See the SGDF Newsletters page on this website for more information and go to the SGD website at www.spartanglobalfund.org. .
MSU Students for Fair Trade (MSUSFT): MSUSFT educates MSU students and members of our Lansing area community about Fair Trade, and its members organize a "Fair Trade Bash" each spring. Broad Net Impact: Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization that works through business to make our world more sustainable. Broad Net Impact at Michigan State University is an independent chapter of Net Impact Central, based in California. Students Today, Leaders Forever: The mission of STLF is to reveal leadership through service, relationships, and action. The MSU chapter of STLF works to engage students in servant leadership through community service projects in the Lansing/East Lansing area and during a service-oriented spring break tour. MSU STLF will send three buses on a community service road trip during spring break 2012 that will conclude in Charleston, SC. www.stlf.net Co-Chairperson of the MSU Broad College's Energy-Sustainability Action Committee. "The Sustainability Action Committee is a group of students at Michigan State University dedicated to making the Broad College of Business more sustainable in its practices. We are passionate and believe actions to be more important that words." For information email sustainability@bus.msu.edu. |
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