Co-sponsored by the Pathways to Planetary Health initiative at the Garrison Institute and the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
Reading the Chinese Classics for Self-Transformation and Social Reform
Across China’s long intellectual history, the classics have not only been texts to study, but practices to live—resources for cultivating character, clarifying responsibility, and shaping public life. In a moment of rapid modernization and ecological strain, renewed attention to classical traditions raises a timely question: how might practices of self-cultivation support social reform—and what are the limits of that hope?
In this Forum, Daniel K. Gardner (Dwight W. Morrow Professor Emeritus of History and Environment, Smith College) draws on decades of scholarship on Confucian and Neo-Confucian traditions—especially the interpretive legacy of Zhu Xi—to explore how “reading” can function as a formative discipline: training attention, moral discernment, and a sense of obligation to the common good.
In conversation with Stephen Posner and Mary Evelyn Tucker, we’ll explore:
- What does it mean, in the Confucian tradition, to read for self-transformation rather than information?
- How did thinkers like Zhu Xi connect inner cultivation to education, institutions, and reform?
- How might classical practices illuminate (or complicate) contemporary aspirations such as Ecological Civilization—especially where “tradition” is invoked in modern public discourse?
- What can modern leaders, educators, and communities responsibly take from the classics without romanticizing or instrumentalizing them?
This Forum is designed for participants interested in the deeper cultural foundations of civilizational change—where ethics, learning, and governance intersect, and where transformation begins with how we form persons and publics.
TIMING
We will conduct this live Forum on Zoom at 7:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. After registering, you will receive a Zoom link to join the session.
SPEAKERS
Daniel K. Gardner, PhD, is the Dwight W. Morrow Professor Emeritus of History and Environment at Smith College. He has written extensively on Confucian and Neo-Confucian traditions, including Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction and major works on Zhu Xi and classical interpretation. His work also engages contemporary environmental questions in China, including through his book Environmental Pollution in China: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford, 2018).
Peter Senge, PhD, is Co-Founder of the Center for Systems Awareness and Senior Lecturer in Leadership & Sustainability at MIT. Peter has been at the forefront of organizational learning since publishing his classic text, The Fifth Discipline, which provided theories and methods to foster aspiration, develop reflective conversation, and understand complexity in service of shaping learning-oriented organization cultures. He is a pioneer in systems thinking.
Mary Evelyn Tucker, PhD, co-directs the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, which examines cultural and religious values for broadened environmental ethics. This arose from a series of 10 conferences at Harvard on world religions and ecology that she organized with John Grim. She has published several books on Confucianism including The Philosophy of Qi. She co-edited Confucianism and Ecology (Harvard) and two volumes with Tu Weiming on Confucian Spirituality. She is the co-author of Journey of the Universe with Brian Thomas Swimme and the executive producer of the Emmy Award winning Journey film. This was inspired by Thomas Berry whose books she edited and whose biography she wrote with John Grim.They have been traveling in China since 1985 studying Ecological Civilization.
Stephen Posner, PhD, is Senior Fellow for Planetary Health at the Garrison Institute and Global Affiliate with the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont. Stephen integrates science with contemplative practices to build understanding across cultures, align human systems with nature, and promote cross-sector collaboration. He has published over 50 technical and non-technical articles on sustainability science and leverage points for systems change. He currently leads initiatives related to nature assessment and ecological stewardship
Roots of Renewal:
Ecological Civilization in China and the Confluence of Tradition and Modernity
A Garrison Institute Webinar Series on Ecological Civilization
The Garrison Institute’s Pathways to Planetary Health initiative is partnering with the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology to host a five-part online Forum series exploring Ecological Civilization in China—an evolving cultural, ethical, ecological, and policy vision that asks what it would take to align human development with the flourishing of Earth’s living systems.
Rather than treating ecological civilization as primarily technical, this series examines how social change is shaped by the relationship between tradition and modernity: where inherited worldviews and cultural traditions meet rapid development, and where inner cultivation and public institutions must be reimagined together. Each Forum features a guest speaker in dialogue with Mary Evelyn Tucker and moderator Stephen Posner, and invites participants into conversations that connect ideas to practice, and values to systems change.
Across the series, we move from on-the-ground conservation and thirty years of Ecological Civilization work in China, to Daoism and classical reading as pathways for self-transformation and social reform—culminating in the launch of a new Yale Forum Ecological Civilization website designed as a living resource for learning, teaching, and transformation.
Moderator: Stephen Posner, The Garrison Institute
Discussants: Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University, along with esteemed speakers
We will conduct these LIVE forums on Zoom. After registering for each forum, you will receive a link to join the session. Please email us at events@garrisoninstitute.org with questions.
Featured speakers and topics:
- Gao Yufang — Conservation in China for Ecological Civilization
- Zhihe Wang & Meijun Fan — Ecological Civilization: Thirty Years of Work in China
- Daniel K. Gardner — Reading the Chinese Classics for Self-Transformation and Social Reform
- Chen Xia — Daoism and Ecological Civilization
Simeiqi He & Andrew MacIver — A New Ecological Civilization Hub for Learning, Teaching, and Action
We will conduct these LIVE forums on Zoom from 7:00 – 8:15pm ET on
Please contact us for questions and inquiries at events@garrisoninstitute.org.