Thomas Berry Legacy

“The Earth is an awesome mystery, as fragile as we are ourselves… exploitation of the Earth is exploitation of the human.” —Thomas Berry

To harm Earth is to harm ourselves.
To protect her is to protect our shared future.

What would change if we lived as if this were true?

Ecological Civilization asks us to rethink what it means to flourish.

Rooted in Chinese ecological thought and carried through global interfaith traditions, this emerging paradigm places Earth, not empire, at the center.

Learn more at fore.yale.edu

We live in a marvelous world—creative, intelligent, alive.

Living Earth Community gathers voices across disciplines to explore our sacred relationship with the more-than-human world. It invites us to reimagine belonging on a living planet.

Coming soon.

“What we do to the forests is a mirror of what we do to ourselves.” Mahatma Gandhi

Ecological civilization begins when we treat Earth not as resource, but as relationship.

Care begins with curiosity.
Stewardship begins with wonder.
There is no ecological future without love.

📖 The New Ecozoic Reader is coming!

This volume connects Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and Mohawk wisdom, blending academic rigor with creative reflection—a testament to the Great Work of our time curated by a diverse group of scholars, faith leaders, and cultural workers.

Stay tuned!

“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.” Dacher Keltner

✨ What moment of wonder shifted your perspective?

🌍 Living Earth Community is coming soon!

Stephen Blackmer, chaplain of Church of the Woods, shares in the Reflections on Religion & Ecology: Yale Alumni Speak from the Field series how theology and forest conservation converged in his life.

▶️ Tune in: yaleseries.com

🌱 What’s one way you feel nature has shaped your spiritual life?

Native communities safeguarded these survival values long before climate change hit our radar. They’re on the frontlines of resistance, reminding us that true balance isn’t optional—it’s how we endure.

How will you weave Indigenous wisdom into your climate action?

Not just a site—a shift.

The Living Earth Community offers tools to reframe learning through the lens of ecological sacredness.

Launching in October.

Will your classroom be ready?

Haile Selassie's birthday echoes like drumbeats through Rastafari communities.

To many, he is the Black Messiah who reclaims dignity through liberation.

In her interview, Blair Nelsen doesn't just reflect on spiritual ecology—she roots it in memory.

Watch the full interview at yaleseries.com

Blair Nelsen calls eco‑grief what it is: love that refuses to look away.

Watch her full interview in the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology series → yaleseries.com

Where are you turning grief into guardianship this week?

Today, we pause to listen to the ancient voices in the wind, waves, and wilderness.

Our Reflections on Religion & Ecology series invites you to hear from Yale alumni who carry that same reverence into their work.

Watch the latest interviews at YaleSeries.com

The ecological crisis isn’t just about resources. It’s about relationship.

When we lose touch with the living world—its beauty, its mystery, its intelligence—we also lose our capacity to care for it.

Watch the latest interview in Reflections on Religion & Ecology

YaleSeries.com

If we don’t preach on climate now, will we only preach on grief later?

Rev. Jim Antal asked this 15 years ago. Now, his words ring louder than ever.

Reflections on Religion & Ecology is a new Yale series spotlighting spiritual leaders who aren't waiting for permission.

Watch now: YaleSeries.com

"You're supposed to be a minister, not an academician."

Henri Nouwen's words to a young Jim Antal weren't a critique—they were a calling.

This is the power of intergenerational torch-passing: one story, one act of courage, one voice at a time.

Watch Jim's full interview now: YaleSeries.com

This series is more than interviews — it’s sacred storytelling for a planet in crisis.

Every week we’ll spotlight Yale alumni reimagining the future of faith and ecology.

First up: Rev. Jim Antal.

🌍 Watch and reflect: yaleseries.com

#ReflectionsOnReligionAndEcology #YaleAlumni #SpiritualEcology

“We were never promised any of it — this world of cottonwoods and clouds — when the Big Bang set the possible in motion. And yet here we are.” Maria Popova

We hold space for our gratitude and our determination to protect this precious world.

How do you nurture hope in your ecological journey?

This isn’t just about climate.
It’s about connection.
The kind we forgot when we traded reciprocity for extraction, and relationships for resources.

Ecology isn’t some distant issue “out there.” It’s here. It’s us.

This week, we pause to honor the profound intergenerational love that sustains the religion and ecology field—a love that fuels commitment, nurtures hope, and bridges generations of scholars, activists, and spiritual leaders.

How does this love inspire your work or your faith?

The future is not something we conquer.
It’s something we call into being through reverence, relationship, and restraint.

Berry reminds us: power becomes sacred when we remember how to ask, not just take.

Thomas Berry reminds us that every star, every mountain, every living being is part of a profound conversation between Earth and Spirit.

How does the cosmos speak to you?

Let’s listen deeply and honor the universe as holy scripture written in the language of life.

#ThomasBerry #Fore

At the Yale Forum, we believe in dissolving false boundaries — between intellect and intuition, ecology and theology, data and reverence.

How are you bridging the sacred and the scientific in your work or worldview?

#AlanWatts #ReligionAndEcology #ThoughtLeadership #SacredKnowledge #Fore

The climate conversation often collapses into politics. But under it all is something older: shared ground.

We work with scholars who are reframing ecology not just as science, but as sacred commons.

Because when the land is sacred, scholarship becomes stewardship.

#ReligionAndEcology #Fore

Action is sacred when it’s rooted in care.

At the Forum, we see ecology not as an add-on to faith — but as its embodiment.

Wherever you are, whatever your tradition, the Earth is calling. How are you answering?

#FaithInAction #DalaiLama #EcoJustice #SpiritualEcology #TransformationalAction #Fore

This Independence Day, we pause to reflect: What does freedom mean if it comes at the cost of the Earth?

True liberation is not domination over nature — it's relationship with it.

The wisdom isn’t lost. It’s waiting.

#SacredEcology #Fore

This week, we spotlight the communities practicing sacred restraint — removing dams, ending extractive rituals, and returning land to Indigenous stewardship.

Doing less can be its kind of spiritual discipline.

#EcologicalRestoration #SpiritualRestraint #TransformationalAction #Fore

Restoring wetlands, planting food forests, and weaving spiritual practices into direct ecological action — these are not mutually exclusive. We don’t need to choose between the sacred and the practical.

What does ecological action look like in your spiritual tradition?

#Fore

For generations, Indigenous wisdom and spiritual traditions have reminded us that the Earth is not background — she is a voice. A presence. A teacher.

What sacred knowledge have you inherited — or ignored?

#SacredEcology #RobinWallKimmerer #SpiritualListening #IntergenerationalHandshake #Fore

This isn’t nostalgia. It’s instruction.
The Earth has always known how to begin again.
Now it’s our turn to remember how.

#ThomasBerry #TheGreatWork #SacredResilience #ReligionAndEcology #EcozoicHope