History
The Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) was organized in 1993 by community leaders representing a broad spectrum of institutional interests including governance, commerce, education, and natural resource management. Menominee expertise in forest management has gained widespread attention, receiving commendation by the United Nations in 1995, and designation as the first awardee of the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development in 1996. The Institute fulfills its mission through scholarship, research and demonstration projects, policy recommendations, and academic preparation in Sustainable Development and Timber Harvesting.
As in the past, present, and future, Menominee survival and sustainability depends on the land and forest that is so closely tied to Menominee culture. Menominee believe that all living things are created in the same way and that each life is to be respected. The Sustainable Development Institute applies these values, wisdom, and practices to a comprehensive approach of sustainability that supports and balances the needs of the Menominee.
Menominee approach to sustainable development is an integration of tribal wisdom, knowledge, values, understandings, and practices that views sustainability as a continual process by which Menominee affinity to place balances dimensions of community life. These dimensions illustrate inextricable linkage amongst the historical, social, cultural, and spiritual foundations of Menominee life.
Our Mission & Vision
The Sustainable Development Institute’s mission is two-fold: to reflect upon, rediscover, and strengthen the interconnected dimensions which define Menominee sustainable development and to disseminate and advance the tenets of sustainability of what is learned, known, and valued of the Menominee approach to sustainability to those who wish to share this knowledge and wisdom. Central to the mission is illustrating and living the vision of Menominee leaders of respectful, responsible, and kinship stewardship of our mother earth for future generations’ survival and gift of life.
The vision of the Sustainable Development Institute is to share and implement the Menominee values of sustainability through education, applied research, community engagement, and sharing of indigenous wisdom. The Sustainable Development Institute is to be an innovator in sustainable ways while respecting the past, present, and future well being of netaenawehmakanak.
Our Goal is to illustrate, live, and promote the vision of Menominee leaders of respectful, responsible, and kinship stewardship of our mother earth for future generations’ survival and gifts of life, through education, research, outreach, and practice.
