A Collar of a Different Color

    “I think it’s better that we’re doing this and heading down the right road,” Werthmann said. “And I think that Eau Claire can be a leader in creating that foundation and pushing to create more jobs for the future.”

    Wisconsin as a whole is moving towards a green future. Programs and initiatives have cropped up to save tax dollars and create jobs.

    UW-Stout is even giving people a start in the green economy with their new sustainable management major. The major is geared toward those with their associate’s degree and can be done online and through other schools in the UW System. People with the degree will take classes in logistics, sustainable accounting, biology, environmental impact, and water and energy.

    Since the idea for the major came about, people moved quickly to make it happen. Anne Hoel, academic director to the degree and representative for Stout, said that though a few small, private universities have developed green-collar majors, the UW System is leading the way for public universities.

    “We have hard working people,” she said, “so let’s give them something that’s really new and marketable.”

    And a sustainable degree is marketable and will continue to be in Wisconsin, according to Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton.

    “The reality is that this is going to be a carbon constrained economy and companies must get a move on,” she said.

    Though Lawton said that Wisconsin is probably in the middle of the pack right now as far as sustainability goes, we are “poised to lead” with our farmers, entrepreneurs, and school systems.
Lawton also said that environmentally we now have little choice.

    “The panel on climate change tells us we don’t have a lot of time to turn this around,” she said. “We really must turn our economy into a reduced carbon emission economy.”