The Power and Promise of Humane Education
Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times
Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs
So, You Love Animals: An Action-Packed, Fun-Filled Book to Help Kids Help Animals
I’ve just finished reading Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger’s new book Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility. I was one of the people who read their 2004 article, “The Death of Environmentalism,” and loved it. While some in the environmental community felt threatened by their call for an expansive, interconnected movement of possibility and care for all and away from single issue politics and approaches, I believed their essay reflected a similar vision to the one we hold at the Institute for Humane Education (IHE): that the issues of human rights, environmental protection, and animal protection are all intertwined and inseparable, and that we will only create a sustainable, peaceful, and humane world when we create visionary solutions that work for all.
So I was eager to read Break Through, and I was not disappointed. It is an extremely important book, and I recommend it wholeheartedly. In particular, we need our leaders to read and heed it. But I have one critique that’s especially relevant to educators in general, and humane educators in particular. Nordhaus and Shellenberger begin their book with a discussion of their original essay’s query: “Imagine how history would have turned out had [Martin Luther King, Jr.] given an ‘I have a nightmare’ speech” instead of his famous “I have a dream speech.” Well, it turns out King did give an “I have a nightmare” speech immediately preceding his “I have a dream speech,” and the shift from the nightmare to the dream came only when jazz singer, Mahalia Jackson, cried out to King during the speech, “Tell them about your dream, Martin!” Nordhaus and Shellenberger discuss this shift, and it forms the foundation for their book’s central thesis: we must focus on the dream we have for a safe, healthy, prosperous world, not on the nightmare that environmentalists so often shout to any and all who will listen.
And so Nordhaus and Shellenberger critique books such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Jared Diamond’s Collapse: Why Societies Choose to Fail and Succeed, and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth for their nightmare scenarios that don’t inspire change, but frighten people into reactive self protection. I took this critique very seriously, as currently, all of these books are required reading in IHE’s M.Ed. and Humane Education Certificate Program. Nordhaus and Shellenberger perceive these books as doomsaying, negative scary-mongering that fail to promote vision, hope, and positive solutions; their point is valid, but, I believe, incomplete.
As a humane educator, I struggle with the challenge of sharing the real and frightening problems of our time with youth in a way that is inspiring, motivating, and empowering. How can I teach about escalating worldwide slavery, institutionalized animal cruelty, loss of biodiversity, and other issues without creating potential despair, hopelessness, rage, and sorrow? How can I speak of the problems we face in a manner that excites people to envision solutions and make choices wisely and compassionately? I believe that the answer is another “both/and” (something I’ve written about previously in this blog), not an “either/or.”
Nordhaus and Shellenberger begin their book analyzing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech, but fail to ask the question whether it’s important that King began with the “nightmare” speech before launching into the “dream” speech. Would there have been enough energy to pursue the dream without diving into the terrible injustices and problems revealed in the nightmare?
After I taught the 8th graders at the Bay School several weeks ago (described in the previous blog posts Responsibility and Responsibility, Part II: Ordinary Heroism), I received some letters from them. Here are excerpts from a few:
“Although some of the experience was sad, you also showed us a lot of the good. To me that was what made the class so awesome. The best thing about the class was that you were able to keep us in high spirits the whole time, always making us see the good side of things and helping us think of ways we can help.”
“Thank you so much for coming to our class and teaching us about some of the great problems of the world, but most importantly, how we can help. I was really inspired by you, and I really can’t wait to get started on my MOGO plan. It was a shocking week for me, but I think that is an important part of educating people about these problems.”
“After you came into teach, I was opened to a new world of trouble and new ways to solve and diminish the problem.”
“You showed some of the world’s problems, but instead of leaving us in despair, you left us with hope. Much of what you taught us I had no idea of, but the information will definitely influence my choices.”
I spent time teaching these 8th graders about the nightmare of the real tragedies and dangers we face. Without that information, would they have known enough, or cared enough to do anything? But I also spent time telling them about what people were doing to create solutions and reminding them that they, too, could make a difference, live their values, and contribute to a better world. This is the “both/and” I believe we need to balance as changemakers. We must focus on the vision, but with an understanding of what needs to change.
If someone picked up Break Through, without having read any of the so-called “doomsday” books, would they be as deeply moved to envision and work for the positive, global changes that are so necessary? Without Silent Spring, would a movement to safeguard biodiversity have been born so readily and powerfully? Without An Inconvenient Truth, would global warming be front page news yet? I agree with Nordhaus and Shellenberger that these books do not offer us the vision we need, but books build on the work before them and lead to the work that comes later, and I’m grateful for Carson, Diamond, and Gore for their incredibly important contributions to understanding the problems we face, and especially in the case of Diamond, for giving us viable suggestions and meaningful understanding of how to create shifts.
I’m also deeply grateful for Break Through, and it will join the other required books in our programs. I think, though, that Nordhaus and Shellenberger might not have written it so well, so powerfully, and with such vision, were it not for some of the authors they critique.
~ Zoe
Filed under: accurate information, humane education, positive choices Tagged: | accurate information, Break Through, humane education, positive choices
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Very nice article to which I agree entirely and I have three book suggestions to add.
I recently read Thom Hartman’s last book: Cracking the Code which was very interesting in learning how to communicate and what makes people move in a way or another.
In one of the chapters: The motivation Code, he writes just the same things, how “people tend to walk towards pleasure and away from pain, towards hope or away from fear” He says that – in the short run – the most effective strategy for persuasive communication is to motivate someone to “move away form pain”. This is where the doom and gloom books would work so well. Thom tells us that “the moving away strategies are very powerful because they’re among the first we learn as children. But the downside of these strategies is that overtime they stop working or produce terribly dysfunctional results.”
I think we all experience this when we read too much of one thing telling of disasters awaiting us, punishments, or hell as the outcome of our actions. I also found myself walking down the path to despair. It was almost addicting, walking around the isles of bookstores, looking for more books to confirm something that I already knew: we have done a horrible job at safeguarding the resource and beauty of this planet, we have inflicted immense pain to people and animals, and if we keep this up, well yes, it’s the end of us. …..But that will start first with the end of ME.
How can we make a difference, if all we hold in ourselves is pain from what”has been” and are in too much despair to envision something different.
Thom writes that “The moving towards pleasure strategy” is much more effective and long lasting. As much as we are wired to run from pain, we are also wired for pleasure, and it’s a deeper and stronger emotion, he says. One that lasts longer.
Another book that offers the same message is: Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. In one of the chapters, the authors write about the effectiveness of storytelling, “but only if the stories include concrete and vivid plans that offer hope, or people will typically block out the message”.
And last but not least, “Made To Stick” is also a fabulous book that raises points about how everyone can use better communication with messages that are unforgettable with six key principles: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions and stories.
Three very interesting books with similar messages that we can all use to move from despair to action and hope.
There is always hope, and the hope exists simply because I am choosing to be the hope.
There is always hope, and the hope exists simply because YOU are choosing to be the hope.
If you’re reading this blog, then you probably know what the problems are.
Now these are a few concrete solutions:
We need to create a generation of socially, environmentally conscious and compassionate human beings by telling our children that compassion is more important than money. Yes, we need to actually tell our children, bluntly: “Compassion is more important than money.” Say the words. Say the actual words, “Compassion is more important than money. Peace is more important than money. Money will not bring you real peace, but once you have real peace, you won’t want money because peace is contentment, and contentment is when you don’t want anything, and when you don’t want anything, that is peace.”
We need to actually tell our children that they can prevent environmental disaster by buying as little as possible, buying only organic clothing when they absolutely most buy new clothing, never buy anything that is packaged or made of Styrofoam or plastic. Buy organic food. If you want coffee or chocolate then make sure you only buy Fair Trade Certified coffee or chocolate, because buying non-certified coffee and chocolate is more likely to encourage the existence and growth of forced child slave labor.
We need to read moral-character building books with our children like John Marks Templeton’s Worldwide Laws of Life, because books like Worldwide Laws of Life by Templeton will teach the children how to interact with humanity in a compassionate, productive and peaceful manner. We need to read character building books with our children like John Marks Templeton’s World Wide Laws of Life: 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles so that they will know how to lead productive, self-sufficient lives.
We need to ban demoralizing books and TV about people who kill each other for money, sex and power because children copy what they see on TV and in books. Get theTVboss.org and use it to block out TV programs about people who harm each other to gain sex, power and money for themselves.
Tell your local and national school administrators to stop creating and encouraging a mindset of ruthless compassionless competition for personal physical gratification by reading books about people who torture and kill each other for sex, money and power. Tell your local and national school administrators that they need to buy every single child in their district their very own copy of John Marks Templeton’s Worldwide Laws of Life: 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles (to be gradually memorized from cover to cover between 1st to 12th grade) instead of demoralizing the children by buying them book about people who torture and kill each other for sex and money.
Tell your local and national school administrators that they need to teach the children how to live peaceably and compassionately by teaching them peace inducing meditation techniques like yoga, tai chi, and qigong, instead of creating a mindset of ruthless competition for personal physical gratification with violent competitive sports and Satanic fantasies masquerading as “scientific and historical fact.”
If you are living in a volatile area (such as an inner city with a lot of crime, a war zone, or a stressful school, home or office), these are some concrete steps you can take to quell the situation.
Get rid of newspapers which make people nervous by increasing fear and tension (by publishing upsetting images). Turn off the news if the news is increasing fear, aggression and hatred by focusing on the absolute worst things which are happening while ignoring the other 99.9% of the population which is just going about normal, every day school and work routines.
If you have a radio then keep that radio tuned to a station which only plays soothing, calming music. Do not listen to any radio station, TV program or newspaper which habitually makes the situation worse by ignoring the 99.9% of the population which is trying to function peaceably and focusing on the less than 1% of the population which is volatile.
Do not read newspapers, watch TV or listen to radio which habitually broadcasts images which increase fear, anger, aggression and tension. Play soft soothing music. Learn how to become peaceful and non-materialistic by practicing a meditation techniques like yoga, tai chi or qigong. Focus your attention on something positive, like teaching your children how to help other poeple, sew, read or play games which build their characters instead of creating a mindset of ruthless competition for material resources.
Learn how to create peaceful dialogue by reading Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg, and learn how to be an upright, productive human being by studying the works of Pema Chödrön, Eckhart Tolle and Thich Nhat Hanh.
Do not allow yourself to become brainwashed by images broadcast on TV, the radio and newspapers. Even the most well meaning journalists make mistakes, but the simple fact is that the newspaper is a business. With some exception, the newspaper’s goal is to make money for itself. The newspaper prints stories about bombs because stories about bombs sell lots of newspapers and the newspaper’s goal is to sell itself. But stories about bombs also increase tension, animosity and fear, needlessly leading to even more bombings.
Newspapers create the news by sharing ideas which people either copy or base their emotions, thoughts, choices and actions, and what is printed in a newspaper represents an extremely small fraction of what is actually happening. The newspapers focus on the absolute worst things that happen because articles about mayhem sell newspapers, but stories about mayhem also increase fear, aggression, anger and animosity, which leads to even more violence.
WE cannot drive our darkness by focusing on darkness. I drive out the darkness by choosing to be the light.
Create the light by choosing to be the light.
Create the light by choosing to BE THE LIGHT.
Be the light
Create the light by choosing to be the light
Create the joy by choosing to be the joy
Create the hope by choosing to be the hope
Create the peace by choosing to be the peace
Don’t just wish for soft music, create the soft soothing music by turning on soft soothing music or playing soft soothing music
Don’t just wish for constructive, character building education: teach your children character building books like John Marks Templeton’s Worldwide Laws of Life: 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles, and mind soothing meditation techniques like yoga, tai chi, and qigong, and petition your local and national school administrators to throw out hte books about people who kill each other for money, sex and power, and replace those books with John Marks Templeton’s Worldwide Laws of Life, so that the children will learn how to be peaceful and interact with the world in a constructive manner by reading Worldwide Laws of Life by Templeton and practicing character building techniques like yoga, tai chi, and qigong.
[...] 16, 2008 In their book Break Through, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger write: “The future is not destined to be dark or bright, [...]