Co-sponsored by the Pathways to Planetary Health initiative at the Garrison Institute and the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
A New Ecological Civilization Hub for Learning, Teaching, and Action
This Forum marks the launch (and guided tour) of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology’s new Ecological Civilization online website—a curated platform designed to make a complex field more accessible for educators, students, researchers, funders, and practitioners working at the intersection of culture, ethics, and ecological change.
Featuring Yale Forum research scholars Simeiqi He and Andrew MacIver, the session will introduce the site’s purpose and architecture, highlight key resource pathways (articles, books, journals, multimedia, reports/statements, and related links), and offer a “how to use this” walkthrough tailored to different audiences—whether you’re looking for a rigorous entry point, a teaching-ready reading list, or a way to track the evolution of EcoCiv ideas across China and the West.
In conversation with Mary Evelyn Tucker, we’ll also explore what it means to build a living knowledge commons: how resources get curated, how the team is thinking about interpretive balance (policy, philosophy, religion, and practice), and how participants can help strengthen the platform over time—by sharing materials, suggesting gaps, and bringing forward new questions at the tradition–modernity interface.
TIMING
We will conduct this live Forum on Zoom at 7:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday April 29, 2026. After registering, you will receive a Zoom link to join the session.
SPEAKERS
Simeiqi He, PhD is a Research Scholar with the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology specializing in China and Ecological Civilization. Her work bridges ecological ethics, technology, and religious/social thought, with a focus on cross-cultural exchange for mutual flourishing and the common good.
Andrew MacIver, PhD is a Research Scholar with the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology specializing in China and Ecological Civilization. An anthropological archaeologist, he collaborates with partners in the U.S. and China to explore how historical and cultural knowledge can inspire ecological civilization and the common good.
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.