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.
In this week's episode of Spotlights, Sam Mickey talks about the life and thought of a deeply influential figure in the field and force of religion and ecology, Thomas Berry (1914-2009). Sam draws on the book about Berry's life and thought, Thomas Berry: A Biography, by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Andrew Angyal (Columbia University Press, 2019), and he concludes with a reading from one of Berry's books, The Great Work (Bell Tower, 1999), ending with the following quotation:
“We are not lacking in the dynamic forces needed...
We at the Forum are excited to unveil to you a new section of our website. Under “World Religions,” you will now find a subsection with a wealth of resources on Zoroastrianism and ecology.
In this new section you'll find:
An introductory Overview Essay on Zoroastrianism and Ecology by Benedikt Peschl
A Bibliography compiled by Homi Gandhi of FEZANA (...
This clip is an excerpt of the Spotlights episode featuring Rabbi Ellen Bernstein. In this clip, she discusses her work with Shomrei Adamah (Keepers of the Earth), the first national Jewish environmental organization, which she founded in 1988. While Shomrei Adamah, the organization, closed in 1996, it touched the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of people, and its message continues to reverberate through its books and educational materials, and through the work of a new generation of Jewish educators, naturalists,...
Joyous summer to one and all! Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice occured on Tuesday, heralding the longest day and our crossing of the threshold into the time of great natural abundance and bountiful growth.
To celebrate, we'd like to share a couple of poems that honor the energy of summer, particulary that special liminal time when we ease from the busyness of the day into the dark sacred night.
June Sunset
By Sarojini Naidu
Here shall my heart find its haven of...
In this week's episode of Spotlights, our host Sam Mickey presents some brief reflections on Father's Day, which is celebrated in North America and many other places on the third Sunday of June. Along with giving some historical context about the meaning of Father's Day, Sam gives some personal reflections about the important role that his father (Robert Mickey) had and continues to have on his lifelong interests in religion and in the natural world.
You can watch the episode below or listen to it here...
We're very pleased to share the following article from the May issue of the Yale Daily News Magazine, which celebrates our founders and directors, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, and their years of work in the joint degree program between Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of the Environment.
“Profile: The Walk Along Prospect Street” provides a brief history of the joint MA and Mary Evelyn and John's many contributions to its growth and development. It also...
This clip is an excerpt of the Spotlights episode featuring Rabbi Ellen Bernstein. In this clip, she discusses her ecological interpretation of the Bible, specifically the ecological implications of the first chapter of the book of Genesis. She wrote a wonderful book on the topic, The Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology (Pilgrim Press).
More information about the book can be found on the publisher's website here.
Details for the full episode are available here.
You can watch the clip below...
This year, Orion Magazine is celebrating 40 years of bringing rich and meaningful environmental writing to our world. They will mark this important milestone with an online event next Tuesday, June 14 at 6pm EST. The online event is free and open to all. You can register for it here.
According to the event site, the online event will consist of appearances by Margaret Atwood, Rebecca Solnit, Vanessa Nakate, Jane Goodall, Camille T. Dungy, Jeff VanderMeer, and many others, plus a tribute to nature writer...
This week’s episode of Spotlights features Rabbi Ellen Bernstein, a leader and pioneer in the field of religion and ecology. She discusses her work with Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth, the first national Jewish environmental organization, which she founded in 1988. She also talks about some of her work as an author and ecotheologian, focusing on the intersection of Judaism, Bible and ecology, including her ecotheology of Genesis 1 in The Splendor of Creation (2006), her ecologically centered Passover Haggadah in...
Stockholm+50, the international high-level environmental meeting, begins today, June 2 , and runs through tomorrow, June 3. The theme for this meeting is “Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity.” Read about the history, vision, objectives, and more here. Also see the video below for history on the original 1972 meeting. See a full UNEP playlist of videos related to Stockholm+50 here.
From the event site:
On 2 and 3 June 2022, a...