Join us for the culminating evening of the Environmental Joy conference. The Yale Center for Environmental Justice presents an evening of science and music exploring how joy holds communities together in the face of injustice and adversity, how the search for well-being and joy powers community innovation, how resilience, survival, and even thriving all serve as deep resources that power big change.

The Happiness Lab Live Podcast

The program features a special live-recording of the Happiness Lab podcast led by Dr. Laurie Santos, the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology. Laurie has studied the science of happiness and found that many of us do the exact opposite of what will truly make our lives better. Based on the psychology course she teaches at Yale — the most popular class in the university’s 300-year history — The Happiness Lab podcast regularly takes you through the latest scientific research and share some surprising and inspiring stories that will change the way you think about happiness.

This evening's podcast will feature leaders in the advocacy and management for and the psychology of environmental and climate action, including:

Dr. Elizabeth Dunn- Professor of Psychology, University of British Columbia

Christine Cordero- Co-Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network

Louis Qaqish- USAID Director of Water Projects, Jordan

Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely with Matt Graff, Mishti, Ann Klein and Carla Duren

Toshihas been described as “a talented, versatile singer, songwriter and musician with a profound ear for sonic Americana—from folk to funk, from blues to rock” by critic/blogger Eva Yaa Asantewaa (InfiniteBody). “She masters each of these genres with vocal strategies that easily spiral and swoop from the expressively sinuous to the hard-charging, a combination of warmth and mischief.”

While her expansive career has landed her comfortably in residence at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, and Madison Square Garden, you can just as easily find Toshi turning out a music festival, intimate venue, or local club. Toshi finds home on any musical stage. Toshi has had the pleasure of working with Lenny Kravitz, Lizz Wright, Ani DiFranco, Carl Hancock Rux, Nona Hendryx, Pete Seeger, Chocolate Genius, and many other amazing artists, including her favorite collaborator, her mom, Bernice Johnson Reagon.

Yaa Asantewaa writes, “Toshi knows the power of song to focus, unite, and mobilize people. If you’ve been lucky enough to be in Toshi’s presence, you know you can’t walk away from her without feeling better about yourself as a human being. She aims for nothing less.”

Toshi has been the recipient of a NYFA award for Music Composition, The Black Lily Music and Film Festival Award for Outstanding Performance. She is a National Women’s History Month Honoree, and is the 2010 recipient of OutMusic’s Heritage Award. Toshi's last show to packed houses in New Haven was The Parable of the Sower Opera (based on the Octavia Butler novel), presented in the summer of 2022.