Throughout the 2026–27 academic year, the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard Divinity School is exploring the history, legacy, and contemporary relevance of Transcendentalism with special programming, including scholarly talks open to the public.

Join Russell C. Powell on September 8th for his public research talk, “Emancipating Ecology: The Emerson-Thoreau Fault Line and Why It Matters for the Climate Crisis.”

Why is Thoreau a hero of environmental politics—but not Emerson? This talk revisits Emerson’s universalism alongside Thoreau’s attention to place, asking how environmental politics can address climate injustice while remaining grounded in particular communities and forms of life.

Russell C. Powell is Research Affiliate for the Transcendentalism Initiative at the Center for the Study of World Religions. Formerly the Center's Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy of Religion, his research examines the religious, ethical, and political dimensions of environmental thought. He is currently completing a book on Ralph Waldo Emerson's relevance to contemporary ecological thought, Nature Is a Language: Emerson's Ecological Ethics.

This event will be held in the Common Room at CSWR in Cambridge, MA and livestreamed on Zoom. Registration is required for both in person and online attendance. Find more information and register here.