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.
Today is Independence Day in the United States, and to mark the day, we would like to offer you a different perspective on freedom from Wendell Berry.
Below, you can hear Wendell Berry read the poem with animation by Charlotte Ager, as part of the OnBeing “Poetry Films” series.
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,...
Our founders and directors, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, have been in China for the past few weeks, giving talks on Ecological Civilization and showing our film Journey of the Universe. Today, we thought we'd give you a photographic window into their experience and the events being held there.
Minister Pan Yue (in the first photo)–an early promoter of the concept of Ecological Civilization in China–chaired the conference in Urumqi where Mary Evelyn and John spoke about this topic. ...
As we announced yesterday in our newsletter, we are very excited to release the newest section of our website: Ecological Civilization. We at the Forum feel this subject is of crucial importance at this stage in our global evolution.
This is a term that emerged 25 years ago in China and is now being discussed in the West. It is a fundamental paradigm shift toward an ecocentric worldview, rather than an anthropocentric one—an ecological civilization that provides a basis for the well-being and health of both people and the planet. This...
The next International Big History Association conference will take place on June 28-30. It will take place at the NCED Conference Center in Norman, Oklahoma, near the University of Oklahoma campus. The theme this year is “Expanding Perspectives: How Big History Connects Different Levels of Understanding (Individual, Organizational, Planetary, and Cosmic).” The keynote speech on June 28 will be given remotely by Mary Evelyn Tucker.
From the event site:
We look forward to seeing you in person at our 2024 conference from June 28 to 30,...
In the past few years, Yale Divinity School has been sharing profiles about, or pieces written by, their alumni who are doing good work in the world. Today, we've collected some of the ones related to the environment to uplift and honor their contributions.
Jason Brown ‘11 M.A.R., ‘11 M.F.“Ecological chaplain in an age of environmental grief”
This...
Today we’re going to return to our exploration of our blog theme for the year: Syntropy. And we’ll be exploring a few of the themes in this 2022 article from the Syntropic World site: “The Cosmology of a Syntropic World. Do we choose syntropy over entropy in all we do?”
According to this article, there are 6 principles of Syntropy. Some seem straightforward and expected, such as the microcosmic/macrocosmic principle (#6: We live in a fractal Universe. How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale). And...
On Tuesday May 14 at 4pm EST, Yale BlueGreen is hosting a conversation with Mary Evelyn Tucker and Leigh Raymond. They'll be talking about some of the ways we can frame the argument for making the transition to sustainable policies. This event is part of their “Case for Sustainability” series.
Yale BlueGreen is the alumni environmental organization at Yale.
From the BlueGreen website:
Yale Blue Green (YBG) is the shared interest group for Yale University alumni who are engaged in environmental and sustainability topics...
Next Tuesday, May 7, Orion Magazine will be holding their annual virtual awards gala, “For the Love of Trees,” online at 6pm EST.
“For the Love of Trees” will feature many wonderful nature writers, with some of them receiving awards at the event. Ed Yong will be presenting the Orion Jane Goodall Award to Robin Wall Kimmerer, and the Orion Barry Lopez Award will be presented to Richard Powers by Maria Popova. The event will also include readings from Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Sandra Cisneros, and Jane Hirshfield, among others.
As part of the...
On April 3, Orion Magazine held a launch event for its spring issue featuring Sumana Roy, who was a contributor, and Mary Evelyn Tucker, who guest edited this issue. They explored the interplay of ritual and nature and how we can enhance that sacred intimacy. They were also joined for a portion of the event by Amy Brady, Executive Director of Orion. The event was sponsored by the Religion, Ecology & Expressive Culture Initiative at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Orion Magazine, and the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology.
They opened by...
In north-central Vermont, this past week has been one of the most exciting times of the natural year. The frogs are awake! Wood frogs, bullfrogs, spring peepers, and more have been emerging from their lengthy slumber to greet the universe with clicks and croaks and cacophonous song. The eggs have already begin to appear–masses of translucent globes with a tiny dark tadpole taking shape at the center, before our eyes. ...