
A collaborative, interdisciplinary, and immersive opportunity to deepen work and connections around humanity’s response to the climate crisis for researchers, contemplatives, and changemakers.
Program Overview
Climate change and its consequences—from deadly forest fires to species loss to sea level rise—are reminders of the urgent need to repair the human-earth ecosystem through holistic, ethically-responsible action. The 2021 Summer Research Institute (SRI), a live online event, explored how the union of contemplative traditions, indigenous wisdom, and science can lead to greater awareness of the interconnectedness of all life and reignite our collective responsibility as stewards of our planetary future.
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The six-day program will begin with a focus on the historic and cultural roots of our current context. We will look at indigenous communities’ earth-care histories and contemporary courage. How have we lost the earth-honoring practices embedded in art, ritual, and storytelling, along with the power and wisdom of ancestor-insights? How can they still help us? We will examine histories of exploration, exploitation, and colonization and their contribution to today’s extinction crisis.
We will then look at the individual and structural influences in modern society that disconnect us from each other and the earth. Scientific insights will be shared on the mind, brain, behavior change, and social change, along with successful models that can inform our own goals and work. We will draw from contemplative wisdom and the deep knowledge of change leaders. We will explore models of radical inclusive interrelatedness, interweaving both creativity and new scientific insights.
With a firm grounding in contemplative and indigenous wisdom, SRI 2021 will look at the changes needed to nurture devotion to earth-care practices that minimize human impact, restore the natural environment, and nourish the human capacity for cooperative kindness, humility, and positive change. Our driving question will be how to re-awaken our relationship with the earth and all its inhabitants, while re-igniting our collective responsibility as stewards of our planetary future.
Topics to include:
- Histories of exploitation and colonization and their contribution to today’s environmental crisis
- The individual and structural influences in modern society that disconnect us from each other and the earth
- Scientific insights on the mind, brain, behavior change, and social change
- The role of contemplative practice, the arts and storytelling in nurturing climate resilience
- Pathways toward collective action and movement building
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The Online Speaker Series
To ensure broader access to SRI, we also offered a synchronous SRI Live Online Speaker Series. The Speaker Series was designed for a general audience interested in hearing the latest on the convergence of contemplative practice, science, and the climate crisis, but who did not have time to attend the full length of SRI, or who were in time zones that prohibited participation in the live, immersive experience at SRI.
Participants in the Speaker Series had live access to, and recordings of, the plenary talks, panel discussions, and contemplative practice sessions from our 2021 SRI.
Please note: Attending the Speaker Series does not fulfill eligibility requirements to apply for the Mind & Life Francisco J. Varela Research Grants; only participating in SRI counts towards eligibility.
Program Sessions


2021 Summer Research Institute Session
A Conversation with Christiana Figueres: The Case for Stubborn Optimism
Christiana Figueres, Susan Bauer-Wu
Topics: Contemplative Wisdom | Environment | Social Change
Audio AvailableVideo Available

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
How to Give the Future a Chance: Mind, Earth, and Climate Change
Elke Weber
Topics: Environment | Social Change

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Placing Ourselves with/in the Planet: Story-sharing as Presence, Just Action, and Healing
Barbara (Bobbi) Patterson
Topics: Environment | Interconnection

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
The Timing of Climate Change
Kyle Whyte
Topics: Contemplative Wisdom | Environment | Social Change

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Playing the Long Game: Seeing the World, Being Ourselves & Bringing the Possible
Carolyn Finney
Topics: Environment | Self & Other

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Film & Panel: “Storytelling, Science, and Hope: Climate Feedback Loops Film & Panel”
Moderators: nischal neupane
Panel: Bonnie Waltch, Donald Perovich, Thupten Jinpa, nischal neupane
Topics: Compassion & Empathy | Contemplative Wisdom | Environment | Stress & Resilience

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Integrity and Moral Suffering in Relation to the Climate Catastrophe and Health
Roshi Joan Halifax
Topics: Environment | Mental Health | Stress & Resilience
Audio AvailableVideo Available

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Panel Discussion: Science Forum: The Science of Social Change for Sustainability
Moderators: Elissa Epel
Panel: Christine Wamsler, Ed Maibach, Karen O’ Brien, Elissa Epel
Topics: Environment | Interconnection | Mindfulness | Social Change

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Earth Democracy : Connecting the Rights of Mother Earth and the Well Being of All
Vandana Shiva
Topics: Environment | Interconnection | Self & Other
Audio AvailableVideo Available

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Mindfulness, Co-benefits, and Behavioral Eco-Wellness
Bruce Barrett
Topics: Environment | Mental Health | Mindfulness

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Don’t Look Down: How to Build Bridges with Unlikely Allies
Dekila Chungyalpa
Topics: Contemplative Wisdom | Education | Environment | Social Change

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
The Critical Role of Behavioral Science in Climate Change
Elissa Epel
Topics: Brain & Cognitive Science | Environment


2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Panel Discussion: “Love, Spirit and Community: How to Build Intersectional Climate Youth Movements”
Oladosu Adenike Titilope, Lyla June
Topics: Environment | Interconnection

2021 Summer Research Institute Session
Altruism and Wonderment: Towards a Sustainable Harmony
Matthieu Ricard
Topics: Compassion & Empathy | Environment | Interconnection