MU to host Sustainable Cotton Summit
The event is open to all students and members of the community.
Published Sept. 21, 2010
The Department of Textile and Apparel Management is holding its first Sustainable Cotton Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Reynolds Alumni Center. The event is funded through a grant awarded by the Importer Support Program of the Cotton Board and managed by Cotton Incorporated, a trade association.
Speakers for the event are professionals from a variety of fields in the cotton industry. They represent cotton farmers, crop scientists, the Missouri Department of Agriculture, retail companies and Cotton Incorporated, and should display a diverse cross-section of sustainability efforts, said Pamela Norum, Textile and Apparel Management associate professor and director of graduate studies.
Norum said her department chose the topic of sustainable cotton because the school is placing more emphasis on incorporating sustainable practices into the cotton industry. The goal of the summit is to raise awareness about what sustainability means and examine what is currently being done about it in the industry.
“In my department, we like to think of sustainability as considering the environmental impact of our actions and taking that into consideration with our decisions while maintaining economic viability in business,” Norum said.
The summit was organized as a part of the department's goal to prepare students for the textile field and spur them to think about sustainability.
The event is not limited to MU students. It is part of Cotton Incorporated's mission to educate all consumers about cotton, so all Columbia residents are welcome to attend. The summit will be organized into 50-minute presentations with question and answer sessions.
Norum anticipates more than 500 people will attend. The professor and her colleague, Jung Ha-Brookshire, have received a lot of interest across campus about the event.
“Using a summit to address this specific issue seemed like a good way to reach a broad spectrum of students,” Norum said.
The professor said the event would allow people in the industry to learn from each other, as well as people from outside the industry who might not have familiarity with any part of it.
“Whatever people think they know about sustainability, they will see specific examples of how it is related to cotton,” Norum said. “They will see how every area of the industry is working toward more sustainable business practices. People at the retail level will be able to learn about the agricultural level and vice-versa.”
MU students who attend at least two presentations should receive a T-shirt and can enter an essay competition with a $1,000 prize for first place.