Regional Cultures of Conservation

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Chicago Regional Forum on Ethics and Sustainability

Lead Staff: Gavin Van Horn, Ph.D.


Rationale

Over the last decade Chicago has emerged as a global leader among the world’s large cities in working toward sustainability. This reflects a culture of civic engagement and collaboration that connects Chicago’s diverse public, private, and non-profit institutions. However, no single forum in the Chicago region provides a focus or regular opportunity for examination of critical questions at the intersection of ethics and sustainability. CHN is well positioned, given its history and mission, to provide leadership to fill this gap.

History and Partners

The Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) is the CHN’s key partner in this project. The CHN and CBG teams have also received valued input from a wide circle of Chicago Wilderness (CW) colleagues.  The inaugural forum in this three-year project was held on October 29, 2010, at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  For this first forum, several contributors to Moral Ground, a recently published anthology on ethics and conservation, were invited to speak directly to the issues we selected.  These speakers were paired with local experts who provided insights from a regional perspective.   Our aim was that the CHN/CBG/Moral Ground collaboration further mutual learning—bringing valuable perspectives to Chicago Wilderness in relation to their initiatives, and, in turn, having Chicago Wilderness contribute meaningfully to the greater conservation ethics dialogue.

Goals and Strategies

Our goals are: (1) to create a vibrant, continuing forum on ethics and regional sustainability; (2) to provide the public with access to the information produced by the forum; and (3) to generate regional discussion and partnerships that will strengthen the ethical content of our collaborators’ initiatives.

What’s Next

On October 28, 2011, we will hold our second regional Forum, “Lifeways and Greenways: Social and Ecological Connectivity,” which will focus on the linkages between landscapes, conservation practice, ethics, and the power of narrative.  By the end of 2011, we plan to implement an online platform so that Forum discussions can continue to evolve. Among other items, this online forum will include videos and materials from past Forums, primers on the relationship between ethics and sustainability, academic resources, and discussion space.

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