Blog
Welcome to the new Yale Forum Blog!
We will be sharing a variety of original content including interviews, reviews, reports from the field, new and enhanced resources on the Forum website, content from our new video podcast series, FORE Spotlights, and much more.
Check back every Tuesday and Thursday for new content.
As autumn approaches in the northeastern US and the school year begins, the buzz of activity resumes, and the field of religion and ecology is no exception! There are many interesting events in the field and related areas of interest this fall. Listed below are some of the highlights for the month of September. All of the events listed here are accessible online and the majority are free of charge.
For a full listing of upcoming events, including in-person events, trainings,...
To celebrate the beginning of a new season of the Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast, Spotlights, it makes sense to commemorate the episodes we've released during our first two seasons. To do so, let's look at a few exemplary episodes.
The podcast series started on September 21, 2020. Our inaugural episode features Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, bringing the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology into the world of podcasting. Details for that episode are here.
Occasionally our podcast episodes...
This is the beginning of the third year of Spotlights, the podcast for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. This new beginning intersects with another new beginning: the Religion and Ecology unit of the American Academy of Religion has two new co-chairs, Joseph Wiebe, PhD, and Kimberly Carfore, PhD. In this episode, they both reflect on the past, present, and future of the academic field and activist force of religion and ecology. We talk about the success of previous chairs and others who have...
Today, we shine a spotlight on one of the winners of the 2022 Yale Environment 360 Film Contest.
We in the Woods is a short film about the efforts of Indigenous Karen Buddhist ascetics in the tiny Thai village of Ban Hmong Kua to preserve their woodlands from development and ecological degradation. It won second runner up in the contest and provides a window into their world and their work, using their traditional ecological knowledge to combat the pollution and destruction of their home. See the full 13-minute...
This blog regularly features clips and episodes from the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast, Spotlights. It is a video podcast series, with episodes posted on the Forum's YouTube channel. and archived on the Forum website here.
Along with the video version of each episode, we also make audio versions available. Some people prefer listening to podcasts instead of watching, sometimes finding the audio version more convenient, or more enjoyable, or easier to pay attention to.
Before Spotlights returns for its third...
This autumn and winter, The Interfaith Council of Thanks-Giving Square (and associates) will be hosting a 6-part webinar series titled “Faiths In Conversation: Religion & Ethics of Creation Care.” Each month they will focus on a different religious tradition. The first webinar on September 12 at 4pm CST will be on Judaism & Ethics of Creation Care. Forum advisor Hava Tirosh Samuelson will be speaking and Martin Jaffe of University of North Texas will be responding. You can register for that webinar here.
Subsequent months...
A recurring theme on many episodes of Spotlights is environmental justice or eco-justice. We have been fortunate to interview pioneers in environmental justice, like Carl Anthony and Dr. Paloma Pavel, who articulate the cosmological context for environmental justice with an inspiring vision of the place of humans in an evolving universe and Earth community. We have also interviewed members of the next generation of scholars and activists engaging with environmental justice, like Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, whose work focuses on justice in...
On July 28, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution declaring a clean, healthy, sustainable environment a basic human right. This landmark declaration has its roots in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, is largely based on a 2021 statement by the Human Rights Council, and could have profound implications for international and environmental law.
This statement was released by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General:
The Secretary-...
This week the Inflation Reduction Act was approved by the United States Senate. Among other things, this bill is the most substantial piece of climate legislation in US history. “This is huge,” according to the climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe: “The United States is historically responsible for 25% of global carbon emissions and its influence outside its borders on technology, on policy, is enormous.” As former Vice President Al Gore said, “It’s been a long...
We're pleased to bring you the recording of this special climate conversation from earlier this summer between Bill McKibben and our co-founder and co-director, Mary Evelyn Tucker.
About Bill:
Bill McKibben is founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and...