This summer marks 20 years since the passing of Murray Bookchin, the founding theorist of social ecology. We will be gathering in late August in Plainfield, Vermont to celebrate Bookchin’s wide ranging contributions to social theory, popular movements, municipal politics, environmental design and other key areas of influence. We’ve invited a wide array of speakers who’ve written about Bookchin’s contributions and brought the principles of social ecology into various social movements.

The gathering will be held over the weekend of August 28-30 on the the former campus of Goddard College in Plainfield, and we look forward to a dynamic weekend of learning, discussion and enjoying the height of late Vermont summer.

Registration is available now on a sliding scale from $50 to $250 for the weekend. Rooms and meals are not included in the ISE’s registration fee, but are available for a modest additional fee: https://www.thecreativecampus.org/institute-for-social-ecology

We look forward to seeing you in Vermont later this month!

Schedule

August 28 – 30, 2026

Most panels are in a hybrid format, with both live and virtual speakers. The Saturday late morning session is all live and the Sunday morning panel is all virtual

Friday, 8/28

3 PM: Gathering and registration

6 PM: Dinner

7:30 PM: Bookchin’s Contributions to Social Theory, with Dan Chodorkoff (ISE), Chaia Heller (ISE), Max Puchalsky (Solarpunk Surf Club & ISE), Chamtouli Huq (CUNY Law School)

Saturday, 8/29

10 AM: Social Ecology and the Kurdish Revolution, with Debbie Bookchin (journalist & author), Arthur Pye (Emergency Committee for Rojava & ISE), Marina Sitrin (Binghamton University), Gülay Kilicaslan (University of Rojava & Carleton University)

11:30 AM: Social Ecology and Social Movements, with Brian Tokar (ISE), Brooke Lehman (Watershed Center & ISE), Camilo Viveiros (Organizing2Activism)

1 PM: Lunch, plus gathering to view the memorial for our dear friend Chino Garcia at St. Mark’s Church in NYC

2 PM: Assessing Murray Bookchin’s Legacy, with Max Fenner (University of Amsterdam), Paul McIsaac (ISE), Peter Staudenmaier (Marquette University & ISE), Sixtine Van Outryve (University of Louvain), speaker from the international Jineologî Academy,

Late afternoon: Free time and field trips

6 PM: Dinner

Evening: Informal gathering time

Sunday 8/30

10 AM: International Allies’ Panel, with Marc Schaffner (Basel, Switzerland), Federico Venturini (Udine, Italy), Yavor Tarinski (Athens, Greece), Laura Roth (currently in Argentina)

12 Noon: Lunch

1 PM: Cleanup and departures

2026 ISE Summer Gathering