Meets biweekly from 3-5 PM at the Center for the Study of World Religions.
Recent scientific research has shed light on the sophisticated ways in which plants and fungi sense, make sense of, and interact with the world. Alongside these discoveries is a wave of interest in the “more-than-human” humanities, this scholarship raises fundamental questions about the nature of the human and the non-human: what is mind, where does it extend, and how? How do plants and fungi trouble our understanding of “thinking" – and perhaps cause us to reconsider what it means to be human? How do we ethically work with them? What cultural frameworks give us opportunities to think about next means of engagement? In its third year of gathering, this reading group will explore these questions and more. Past scholarship has included works by leading thinkers such as Emanuele Coccia, Monica Gagliano, Suzanne Simard, Michael Marder, and more.
Email plants@hds.harvard.edu to be added to the reading group mailing list
Instructor's bio:
Natalia is an herbalist, wildlife rescue & rehabilitation apprentice, and Ph.D. candidate in the Study of Religion at Harvard University, where she recently completed a Master of Theological Studies degree with a focus on the intersection of ecology and spiritual practice. She researches relational ontologies, posthuman ethics, and diction on personhood in scientific discourse, specifically neuroscience. Her secondary work is in Celtic Studies on trans-species soul migration in mythology and plants addressed in the vocative in Old Irish poetry.
Her work has been featured in New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Time Out New York, Vice, For The Wild, and more. For more information + publications, visit selkieprojects.com.
Subsequent meetings are: 9/26, 10/10, 10/24, 11/7, 11/21

Fashion Designer Thao Vu, Founder and Creative Director at Hanoi-based design studio KILOMET109 and Ben Reich, Brand Director and Visual Director at KILOMET109 will visit Harvard as this year’s Asia Center Artists in Residence Tuesday, October 15-Friday, October 18, for a week of events and activities, including several opportunities to see their traditionally made hand dyed garments.

We hope to see you Thursday, October 17, 2024, 4:00-5:45 p.m. in 020 Belfer Case Study Room, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge at the artists’ panel discussion, A Conversation with Asia Center 2024-25 Artists in Residence Ben Reich and Thao Vu: Kilomet109: Reinterpreting Traditional Craft through Sustainable Fashion in Contemporary Vietnam. Harvard faculty members Chan Yong Bu, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Melissa McCormick, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Japanese Art and Culture will moderate. The talk will include a demonstration of KILOMET109 fabrics and garments.

Join the Salata Institute for an informal discussion with Harvard experts on Hurricane Milton. Dan Schrag, Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology and Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, will address the impacts of climate change on hurricanes, generally, and what we can know about the role warming oceans may have played in intensifying Hurricane Milton. Satchit Balsari, Associate Professor in Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Co-Director of CrisisReady, will speak to the impacts of the storm on human health and displacement and what can be expected as the recovery progresses.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—adopted by all member states of the United Nations—emphasizes “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.” Familiar alternative technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and lithium storage cannot, however, meet the challenge alone, in either capacity or equity.

Pursuing a sustainable energy agenda necessitates producing energy more efficiently, more locally, and less harmfully to the environment and our communities. Our energy future requires radical innovations in energy production and distribution, with an emphasis on the equitable division of benefits and burdens across global and local communities.

Fortunately, exciting new developments at the frontiers of science and engineering—from fusion and hydrogen fuel to micro-fission and decarbonized global shipping—are paving the way for an energy revolution. Technologies first imagined in science fiction are fast becoming practicable realities. These developments can also help overcome the geographic constraints, socioeconomic inequities, and disparate impacts of current energy policy. The 2024 Harvard Radcliffe Institute science symposium will bring together scientists, public officials, industry leaders, environmental justice advocates, and behavioral scientists to investigate an equitable energy revolution, critical to the future of our planet.

Join the Salata Institute and the Harvard Alumni Association for an informative and dynamic discussion as part of the Harvard Voices on Climate Change virtual series. An interdisciplinary panel of Harvard experts will tackle your most pressing questions on climate change, exploring the science, health impacts, design solutions, and policy strategies that shape our global response.

Register today to submit your questions and hear actionable insights from our panelists as they break down these complex topics and offer real-world solutions.