The Great Lakes as a Philosophical Subject
The Institute sits in the watershed of the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater system on Earth. This geographical fact shapes our entire approach to environmental ethics. We treat the Lakes not merely as a 'resource' or an 'ecosystem,' but as a philosophical subject that raises profound questions. What does it mean to be a citizen of a watershed? What ethical obligations do we have to a body of water that is shared by two nations, multiple states, and thousands of communities? We engage with the concept of 'water rights' from multiple traditions: Anishinaabe law which views water as a sacred relative with its own standing, Western legal doctrines of riparian rights, and emerging frameworks like the 'Rights of Nature' movement. Students analyze case studies like the Flint water crisis or algal blooms in Lake Erie not just as policy failures, but as deep ethical failures stemming from flawed philosophical assumptions about value, responsibility, and the common good.
The Ethics of Soil and Agroecology
Moving from water to land, a major focus is the philosophy of soil. Drawing on agrarian thinkers but also cutting-edge soil science, we reframe soil not as inert dirt, but as a complex, living community—a microbiome that is the foundation of the terrestrial food web. The ethics of agriculture, therefore, becomes an ethics of our relationship with this biotic community. Students compare and contrast the philosophical underpinnings of industrial monoculture (which views soil as a medium for holding roots and chemicals) with those of regenerative agriculture (which views farming as a partnership with soil life). This involves fieldwork: testing soil health on different farms, interviewing practitioners, and analyzing the economic and social structures that make one philosophy dominant over the other. The question 'How should we feed ourselves?' is revealed as one of the most fundamental ethical questions of our time, with the Midwest as its primary stage.
Legacy Pollution and Intergenerational Justice
The industrial history of the Midwest has left a legacy of polluted sites—brownfields, superfund sites, contaminated rivers. Our program confronts the ethical questions of this inheritance. Who is responsible for cleaning up pollution caused by companies that no longer exist? What do we owe to future generations who will live with the consequences of decisions made decades ago? We study the philosophical literature on intergenerational justice, applying it to local cleanup efforts. A key concept is the 'precautionary principle,' and we debate its merits versus innovation-driven 'proactionary' principles in the context of new industries like advanced manufacturing and bioengineering. This work often involves collaboration with environmental justice organizations in communities disproportionately affected by pollution, ensuring that the abstract theory is accountable to the lived experience of front-line communities.
Climate Adaptation and Regional Resilience
Finally, our environmental ethics program looks forward to the challenges of climate change, focusing on adaptation and resilience specific to the Midwest. How should a farming community ethically manage increasing water variability? What are the obligations of inland cities preparing for climate migration from coasts? We explore philosophies of resilience that go beyond engineering fixes to include social and cultural dimensions: the strength of community networks, the preservation of local knowledge, and the ability to find meaning in disruption. Students work on projects designing 'resilience plans' for specific towns or counties, integrating ethical principles with practical agronomy, urban planning, and disaster sociology. The aim is to equip a new generation of leaders with both the ethical framework and the practical wisdom to guide their communities through an uncertain future, grounded in a deep love and understanding of this specific place.