Center for Humans and Nature

Read and Get Involved in the First of its Kind – ‘The Ethic of the Indiana Dunes Region’

Global Program, The Biosphere Ethics Initiative, Relatos: Giving Voice to Local Ethics around the World

December 4th, 2011

The Ethic of the Indiana Dunes Region, a living document of the Biosphere Ethics Initiative (BEI), was launched last Wednesday, August 17, 2011, at the Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitors Center of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

If you would like to be involved in this or any aspect of the BEI or receive hard copies of the Ethic of the Indiana Dunes Region, please contact CHN Global Director, Kathryn Kintzele.

The Ethic of the Indiana Dunes Region is a small 8-page booklet that highlights the ethical principles of the Indiana Dunes community, drafted by local and global experts in the field. It begins with a Call to Ethical Action, and then describes Our Values and Our Aims. An outreach plan for its continued development and implementation is underway. The Ethic is a living document, to evolve with the partners and issues of the Indiana Dunes Region.

The work began in September 2010 at the Indiana Dunes Relato, “Biosphere Ethics Initiative: toward a local ethic of the Indiana Dunes region.” Relatos are meetings of local, regional and global leaders from across backgrounds and disciplines, that come together to highlight ethics in action, and provide guidance on a just, sustainable and flourishing future for the people, communities and businesses in a particular area. The Indiana Dunes Relato was the sixth formal Relato since the BEI’s inception in 2004: Chicago Wilderness; South African National Parks; Brazil’s Local Agendas 21; Yunnan Province of China; Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle; and Jordan in 2011. However, it was the first Relato to create a local ethic. From this point on, every Relato will create their own localized document, as well as inform the global Evolving Biosphere Ethic.

The launch of the Ethic of the Indiana Dunes Region was held alongside the first public premiere in Indiana of the new documentary, Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time, hosted by the IN Department of Natural Resources Lake Michigan Coastal Program. The IN DNR will be taking the film on a tour throughout Indiana, with more public showings that any other state. Ethics is truly alive in Indiana!

The afternoon opened with tables of community and government organizations, including Friends of the Dunes, Save the Dunes, Shirley Heinze, IN Dunes State Park and the Izaak Walton League. After brief welcomes, the Ethic was then introduced by several of its key drafters, including Jenny Orsburn, Mark Bouman, Charlotte Read, Tom Anderson, Laurel Ross, Cassandra Cannon, Nicole Messacar and Kathryn Kintzele. After a viewing of the film, the evening closed with a Q&A Session with Green Fire narrator and CHN Director, Curt Meine.