Reimagining Our Relationship with the Living World
The 10th annual COA Summer Institute welcomes Robin Wall Kimmerer, Potawatomi botanist and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, in conversation with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist and Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, has inspired millions through her integration of Indigenous knowledge and ecological science. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, climate policy expert, and author of What If We Get It Right? has emerged as a leading voice shaping the modern climate movement. Together they explore how science, community engagement, and storytelling can help reshape society’s relationship with the living world—and how principles such as reciprocity, stewardship, and collective action can guide a more sustainable future.
The 2026 Summer Institute: Toward a More Perfect Union will mark the country’s 250th anniversary with a forward-looking series of conversations about the future of the American experiment. By late July, we anticipate that audiences will have encountered plenty of historical retrospectives and the predictable swing between overly patriotic and overly critical narratives. Our goal is different: To convene voices from across American culture—journalism, the arts, science, philanthropy, civic life, and beyond—and explore how the nation’s founding values have been, and continue to be, tested, reshaped, and reimagined. The Institute asks how these ideals can be stewarded, strengthened, and carried into the future.