The Indiana Dunes Relato: Toward a Local Ethic of the Indiana Dunes Region

Global Program, The Biosphere Ethics Initiative, City Creatures: Rediscovering Human-Animal Relationships in Chicago’s Urban Wilderness

October 4th, 2010

Indiana Dunes State Park Manager Brandt Boughman with Climate Change Ethicist Donald Brown

Indiana Dunes State Park Manager Brandt Baughman with Climate Change Ethicist Donald Brown (Penn State University) at the Indiana Dunes State Park, Chesterton, Indiana, USA

The Global Program of the Center for Humans and Nature (CHN) hosted a successful meeting, and first step, toward a local ethic of the Indiana Dunes region, 14-18 September 2010. In its 5th annual Keeping Nature Alive Symposium, CHN, with support from Save the Dunes, the Tryon Farm Institute, the Field Museum and the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, brought together local, regional and international leaders to begin creation of a document and program that will inform partners and decision-makers of the ethical underpinnings of biodiversity conservation in the Indiana Dunes region. The Symposium, through presentations, dialogue, site visits and a drafting session, laid the foundation for the program that will continue through 2010 and beyond, with the Local Ethic to be printed in early 2011.

The Indiana Dunes sit on the banks of the Great Lakes, which make up 20% of the world’s freshwater, and house heavy industries such as British Petroleum, U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal. The main substantive themes of the Indiana Dunes Ethic include their particular Biodiversity; Social and Cultural History; Private-Public Partnerships; Education; Community Justice, Engagement and Activism; and Arts.

Relatos are the heart of the Biosphere Ethics Initiative (BEI). The BEI is a local-global soft law program aimed at incorporating ethical principles of conservation into law and policy. In a Relato, the partners of a particular region or nation-state highlight ethical principles in action, documented in particular settings in time by communities of practice. This informs the global Evolving Biosphere Ethic (launched in February 2010), as well as the creation of their own particular Local Ethic.

The Symposium report and drafting documents are currently underway and will be posted online. If you would like to be a part of this work, please do not hesitate to contact Global Program Director Kathryn Kintzele.

Center for Humans and Nature

Expanding Our Natural and Civic Imagination