On the evening of April 30, the Yale Club of the Mid-Hudson Valley welcomed Gregory Sterling, the Dean of Yale Divinity School (YDS), to Rhinebeck, New York, to discuss the Living Village, a regenerative, living-learning community at YDS that engages students with the natural world.
Over 70 enthusiastic attendees gathered at Rhinebeck Reformed Church to hear Sterling share the journey of this transformative project. The Reverend of the Church, Luis Perez ’01 MDiv called the event “exceptional in every way.”
“As a YDS alum, I am so proud of Dean Sterling's leadership and his message of environmental stewardship,” Perez said. “It exemplifies what’s possible when institutions and communities commit to honoring Earth's resources.”
During his presentation, Sterling explained that the Living Building Challenge (LBC) has the most aggressive standards for sustainable buildings and provides a framework for designing, constructing, and improving relationships between humans and nature. It’s organized into seven performance areas, including place, water, energy, health, materials, equity, and beauty.
“The Living Building Challenge and the mission of the Divinity School are aligned, including promoting stewardship, community, and an equitable, just world for all peoples,” Sterling said.
Sterling shared photographs of the Village from various perspectives, including its landscape filled with granite benches and retaining walls that control water, and 100,000 new plants and trees indigenous to New England. The pictures also highlight the roof’s solar tiles and a solar canopy over the back parking lot.
“The building is all electric—the roof itself generates the power,” he said. “Whatever is leftover helps power other buildings.”
Sterling also emphasized the use of terracotta as a building material, which produces far less carbon than brick. The wastewater is processed onsite and reused for toilets and ground irrigation, while the wood furniture is made from the property’s red oaks processed at a local mill.
After Sterling spoke, a panel of local alums with various expertise posed questions, including J.C. Calderón ’92 MArch, Lee Kyriacou ’79 MA,’82 MPhil, ’84 JD, Ned Sullivan ’82 MFS/MPPM, and Lauren Yanks ‘19 MDiv.
“It was a wonderful event that demonstrated what is good for the environment, for the climate, and is an important educational tool,” said Sullivan, who has worked at Scenic Hudson for 26 years, an organization that sustains and enhances the beauty and health of New York’s Hudson Valley. “It showed the importance of sustainable building design as part of climate solution. I can’t wait for a tour.”
Architect J.C. Calderón emphasized the project’s universality.
“It demonstrates what people can do together, no matter one’s profession or living circumstances,” he said. “The Dean inspired each of us to make a difference in ways large and small; for instance, his idea of taking a day off from energy use.”
One of the event’s coordinators was the club’s co-president, Maria Ricapito ’86. She found herself pleasantly surprised by what she learned.
“I didn’t expect the Living Village to be so fascinating,” she said. “And Dean Sterling is a wonderful speaker. The whole event was a great way to stimulate thought and action.”
Ricapito was also pleased with the inclusion of a local alumni panel.
“Each panelist brought something different to the table, like architecture, theology, politics, zoning, and the environment,” she said. “I thought they really enhanced the program.”
Following the presentation, Perez helped host a dinner for attendees, where people took the opportunity to network, share ideas, and delve deeply into the issues.
“It brought together people from all backgrounds, creating meaningful opportunities for dialogue and collaboration,” Perez said. “Events like these demonstrate the best of Yale and the best of humanity.”
Living village: the beginnings
While Sterling presented with ease, the road to manifesting his dream was hardly problem-free.
“When I became dean in 2012, I needed to address the problem of crumbling student residences and hoped to make an eco-theological statement,” he said. “I didn’t know about the Living Building challenge until the chair of the advisory council for the school mentioned it. I did research and remember thinking: This is it, this is what we are going to build.”
But raising the funds and communicating the need for such prodigious action was not easy. Then came the pandemic, upending costs and materials. Moments came when Sterling—who’s in his office at least 12 hours a day—worried the project was sunk.
“Despite these setbacks, my team and I kept going, because we deeply believed in the mission,” he said. “Somehow, we made it through.”
The three-story building, which hosts about 50 beds, was completed last August. Each room faces one side, so it gets all-natural light, and the bright hallways and common spaces encourage residents to mingle.
One of the Village’s first residents was Diana Northington Samponaro. After raising four kids in Greenwich, Conn., she pursued her lifelong dream of attending seminary. A longtime environmental activist whose grandfather was an administrator in the WPA and planted over a thousand pecan trees, the Living Village felt like destiny.
“A lot of my application was about sustainability and the Living Village, and I asked to live there,” she said. “I lived in a studio on the second floor with a huge expanse of glass and sunshine. I loved every minute.”
Certificate in ecological leadership and ministry
Ryan Darr, Assistant Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Environment, coordinates the Religion and Ecology program at YDS. He discussed the urgency around climate change and the importance of bringing these issues into the classroom.
“It’s such a rich topic of reflection,” Darr said. “I love spending time with students and thinking about how we should live as well as what’s possible.”
Darr also shared his enthusiasm about the newly launched certificate program in Ecological Leadership and Ministry, which offers students mentorship and vocational training in ecospiritual advocacy and unites academic learning, community building, and contemplative practice. It also strengthens the ability to translate scientific data into action. The Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology is a partner.
“This certificate is meant to empower future ministers and religious leaders in ecological leadership,” he said. “We want to emphasize these fundamental issues in our religious space.”
Northington Samponaro is part of the first group to pursue the certificate.
“I am going to focus on the environment and environmental law, along with theology and the idea that we are caretakers of the Earth,” she said. “Those are the values I was brought up with and will carry forward.”
Including the new certificate, there are now three academic programs that offer the study of religion and ecology, including a joint-degree program with the School of the Environment and a Master of Arts in Religion degree in Religion and Ecology.
“I do not know of any divinity school or seminary that offers three distinct programs in this field,” Sterling said.
Tours of the Living Village are available at 2 p.m. ET on most Wednesdays, May through August of 2026.
For more information, please contact Sustainability Specialist and Living Village Building Manager Joel Lohr (203) 432-3349.
Lauren Yanks ’19 MDiv is a writer and professor and the founder of the Blue Butterfly Foundation, a nonprofit organization that rescues and educates women and children who have been trafficked and enslaved.
