Mainers, our forests, coasts, resources, and all other social, economic, and political realities that make up our communities have been linked to the international system since colonial times. The decisions of early immigrants to settle this region were based on the forces of the international market, our industrial and agricultural base were also driven by these same forces, and so was the nature of the economic development patterns of our communities. The state as well as the federal government relied and continue to rely on the international system, even though policy makers and our representatives continue insist on the promotion of local agendas that impede the constituent/consumer from understanding the bigger picture.

This blog will help the public connect the dots, serving as a tool to educate readers on the social, environmental, economic, political, and cultural issues that link Maine to the global system. The objective is to illustrate how the global realities impact Maine and how our own decisions impact the global system. The glocal analysis used in the world of international affairs and global studies should not be a tool of the few, of the intellectuals, the Wall Street investors or the high caliber policy analysis, it should also be a tool of the public. We at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine believe that the public must be informed about how globalization impacts their lives.

Jobs leaving Maine and moving overseas are the result of globalization and the dynamics between the local and the global. The glocal explains why we no longer have canneries in Maine, why we shifted from an industrial economy to a service economy, why the cod fisheries were depleted, why today non-Mainers own the prime real estate of our coastal regions systematically displacing the locals, and why our lumber industry fails to compete against Canadian subsidized operations.

More recent issues surfacing in the media are also the result of the dynamic relation between the global and the local. Such is the case of the recent closures of paper plants in Brunswick and Old Town, the recent announcement of layoffs at General Electric, and the depletion of the elver eel. This blog will keep Mainers informed about these and many other global issues.