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Global thinking for the Midwest

JANESVILLE — The wind blows and the sun shines across state lines.

And the Great Lakes lap the shores of eight states, not just Wisconsin.

Renewable energy can play a critical role in the economic resuscitation of the Midwest, but only if communities, counties and states are willing to shed the traditions of their parochial past.

"The place to begin is to think across borders in terms of infrastructure, taxation, planning and education," said Richard Longworth, author of "Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism."

Published in 2008, Longworth's book paints a grim picture of the Midwest's losing battle with foreign competition. The former chief foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune has become a popular speaker in Midwestern communities—large and small—that are withering away.

Thursday, Longworth was in Janesville as the keynote speaker for an "Opportunities in Renewable Energy Summit." Wednesday, he'll be back in town to speak at a Professional Development Day at Blackhawk Technical College.

Longworth said the Midwest rested much too comfortably on its roots in agriculture and heavy industry manufacturing. The Industrial Age, he said, was very good to the Midwest, but it's over, and the area is now a global backwater.

"The Midwest did two things really well, and globalization has tossed them both into the air," he said. "We're not coping with that very well …

"This sense of splendid isolation is one we can no longer afford."

Regional collaboration, particularly in attracting emerging renewable energy industries, will help the resource-rich Midwest compete in a global economy, said Longworth, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and distinguished visiting scholar at DePaul University.

Many Midwestern communities have hit rock bottom, and they can either turn out the lights or reinvent themselves to play on the global stage. Those communities are in no position to compete globally, so they must react with a regional approach to emerging technologies, he said.

Longworth can recite many communities with their collective hand on the light switch. A few others, he said, have applied what they're good at to the global economy.

Peoria, Ill., for example, was once known for its whiskey distillation. That dried up, but the community has leveraged its roots in fermentation. Akron, Ohio, lost its title of the tire capitol of the world but has survived in part because of its knowledge of polymers.

Newton, Iowa, lost its Maytag business, but the community adopted a regional approach and is creating jobs in the wind energy sector.

"You've got to look at what you're good at," Longworth said. "We may not need an auto industry, but we do need a transit industry, and if we ever get serious about rapid transit, the car companies certainly know how to move people and goods."

Not every community can build wind turbine blades or turbines, he said. The key is for communities to identify regional niches in the emerging renewable energy sector.

"What are you good at in Janesville?" he said. "Maybe it's not bio-sciences. Maybe it's building things. There are lots of components of this sector that need to be built."

There are large regions, such as the Midwest, but there are also smaller regions, he said. One thousand new wind energy jobs in Newton, Iowa, don't help dislocated workers in the Janesville area pay the bills.

"Maybe Janesville needs to latch onto the Rockford to Madison corridor, get across those state lines," he said, adding that state tax incentive policies often foster competition that regions need to eliminate.

"Hitch your wagon to what's coming out of (UW-Madison) and the technical colleges, because economic development and education are joined at the hip and can't continue to be aloof of each other.

"But don't look to state government for leadership. You don't have to check everything with Madison."