Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker: Global Educator Linking Religion and Ecology

As we prepare to gather to “envision the future of the interfaith movement,” it helps to remember that we are not starting from scratch. The seeds of interfaith dialogue have already been planted in soil enriched by science, ethics, and spirit. Few people have tended those seeds more faithfully than Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker.

Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker serves as Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar at Yale University, holding appointments in the Divinity School, the School of the Environment, and the Department of Religious Studies. Along with her husband and colleague, John Grim, she co-founded and co-directs the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology—an international hub linking the wisdom of the world’s religions with the urgency of our ecological crisis.

Her vision is not just academic; it is deeply practical. She helped organize the landmark Harvard “World Religions and Ecology” conferences in the 1990s, which opened a new field of scholarship and activism. She was a key member of the Earth Charter drafting committee, working to articulate a global ethic for sustainable living. She sits on the steering committee of the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, reminding us that the great forests of the Amazon, the Congo, and Indonesia are not only carbon sinks, but sacred spaces. She has spoken on the platforms of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Religions for Peace, and the Temple of Understanding itself, always with a steady conviction: that interfaith collaboration is essential to the flourishing of life on Earth.

Perhaps most memorably for the wider public, Dr. Mary Evelyn co-created the Emmy-winning multimedia project Journey of the Universe. This sweeping story weaves together science and spirituality, reminding us that the universe itself is a sacred story in which we all have a part to play.

When she talks about the interfaith movement, she calls it “an extraordinary new dialogue on the fate of the planet.” She points out that policy and science, while critical, are not enough on their own. To move hearts, we need norms and values. To build courage, we need a moral force. And to shift systems, we need to connect across traditions, cultures, and sectors—religion, science, economics, health, and education—in what she describes as a “greater awakening.”

It is this conviction that our shared future requires shared responsibility that makes Dr. Mary Evelyn’s work so resonant. She reminds us that religion, at its best, is not a source of division, but a wellspring of commitment to the common good. And she shows us, through her scholarship and her partnerships, that interfaith dialogue can become interfaith action: restoring forests, protecting the vulnerable, and renewing the human spirit.

As we imagine what the next chapter of interfaith cooperation might look like, we are fortunate to have her with us.

Primary Sources & Speeches

• Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale. “About the Forum.” Yale University.
• Earth Charter Initiative. The Earth Charter.
• Interfaith Rainforest Initiative. “Steering Committee.”
• Parliament of the World’s Religions. Mary Evelyn Tucker – Climate Action Interview (video).
• Tucker, Mary Evelyn. “Connecting the Dots: A Great Awakening.” Parliament of the World’s Religions Blog.
• Tucker, Mary Evelyn and John Grim. Forum on Religion and Ecology: Biography. Yale University.
• FORUM2021: A Call to Urgent Action to Support Sustainable Food Systems
  with Rev.Jim Antal and Mary Evelyn Tucker
• Eco Justice For All: Women Interfaith Visionaries
  with The Reverend Canon Sally Grover Bingham, Alison Van Dyk, and Mary Evelyn Tucker
• Eco Justice For All: The Perspective of Religious Naturalism Dialogue
  with Ursula Goodenough and Carol Wayne White. Moderated by Mary Evelyn Tucker.
• Eco Justice For All: The State of the Earth
  with Mary Evelyn Tucker, Imam Saffet Catovic, Dr. Tyrone Hayes, Rev. Susan Hendershot, and Dr. Charles McNeill