October 6, 2025
Online at 7pm ET
With Mary Evelyn Tucker, Peter Senge, Stephen Posner, and Yao Xinzhong
In this session, we will explore cultivation traditions in China and what they can teach us about resilience and mind-body / inner-outer integration. These practices contribute to the historical, cultural, and spiritual roots of Ecological Civilization and provide a foundation for what it looks like today. We will also discuss institutions as a bridge from personal cultivation to societal impact – with connections to what’s happening in schools, how businesses work, and the role of governments at different scales.
Key questions:
- What are the limitations of technological solutions alone in addressing complex ecological crises?
- How can science and contemplative traditions be integrated to foster a more holistic understanding of planetary health?
- How are the cultural and spiritual dimensions of Ecological Civilization unfolding today? What motivates and supports the revival of historical traditions? Where are the applications of these traditions coherent, and where are they messy and complex?
- What does it mean to view humans as part of an interconnected, living Earth community rather than separate from nature?
- What lessons can other nations learn from China’s efforts to embed cultural values in environmental governance?
Co-sponsored by the Pathways to Planetary Health initiative at the Garrison Institute and the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
This event is part of the Global Speaker Series on “Cultivating Ecological Civilization: Wisdom, Practice, and Systems Change.”
Contact: events@garrisoninstitute.org