One of the beavers swimming by.
Image copyright Edwin Barkdoll.

Pleasure is so seductive, so desirable. Even the word itself is somewhat onomatopoeic. Who would eschew pleasure?

Virtually all of us, at least some of the time.

We may say no to pleasures that carry a heavy price, such as gambling or unprotected sex. We may forego the pleasure of foods that are produced through cruelty to animals, or reject certain forms of entertainment, such as cruise ships, that come at the expense of the environment.

But most of us still seek out pleasure, often as a reward for our hard work, our completion of chores, and for many of us, our activism. And there’s nothing wrong with doing so.

But what we sometimes forget is that the time we lavish on pursuing pleasure might sometimes be better spent pursuing joy.

What’s the difference between pleasure and joy?

Pleasure is time-bound and fleeting; joy suffuses our whole being and often becomes integrated into our personality, accessible even in challenging times. Pleasure is often the direct result of sensory stimulation; joy may well from the inside out. Pleasure often comes without any connection to others (for example, when watching a favorite TV show); joy often carries a deep connection not only with other people, but with other species and the earth itself. Pleasure doesn’t usually lead to a desire to give, but joy often inspires generosity and acts of goodness.

Recently, I made a conscious decision to pursue joy over pleasure.

We saw thousands of mosquito larvae.
Image copyright Edwin Barkdoll.

My husband and I had worked most of the weekend cleaning up after a leak in our basement created a big mess. We were both tired by Sunday afternoon and would have been happy to pursue a bit of pleasure by taking a short walk with the dogs, eating a good dinner and watching a movie on Netflix. Instead, we chose to pursue joy. We headed to the wilderness—land nearby called Otter Bog—where we go to experience the mysterious, amazing, ever-changing natural world. It was a glorious, sunny late afternoon, and the Lyrid meteor shower would be peaking early the next morning.

After a hike with the dogs, we sat at the bog, which surrounds a 13-acre pond, to wait for the beavers who usually arrive at dusk. Sure enough, two huge beavers were gnawing on sticks (as we ate sandwiches for dinner) before entering the water to glide by (see the photo above). We watched a pair of Bufflehead ducks and saw a Bald Eagle and an osprey. We were serenaded by the sounds of tiny frogs called Spring Peepers. Their peeps beckoned, and we decided to visit them. When we got to their boggy patch of reeds and water, the noise was deafening (watch this video). When our ears couldn’t endure the sound any longer, we continued to “Sometimes Pond,” a meadow gradually turning into a pond from beavers’ creating several dams along the stream that flows through it. We got to see those beavers, too, though barely, because by now it was dark.

salamander egg cases
Image copyright Edwin Barkdoll.

Our next destination was a vernal pool deep in the woods to see salamander eggs. Earlier in the week there were no egg cases, but there had been a warm, rainy evening a few nights later, and we felt confident there would be a few. What we didn’t expect was to see swarms of squirming mosquito larvae (see photo), thousands upon thousands of them. We discovered some salamander egg cases, too, gelatinous white globs that look like eyes (see photo). We were relieved to know that when they hatched, the salamander larvae would feast on the mosquito larvae.

We trekked back and slid into our sleeping bags. The alarm would be going off at 3:45 a.m., because I was intent upon watching the meteor showers. Later, as dawn broke, I was greeted by three kinds of warblers and watched a Hooded Merganser land on the pond. The beavers came by for a morning visit, too, before we left to go to work.

And while I slept little and fitfully, and shivered in the 25-degree morning for several hours, this was joy.

Such joy (coupled with wonder, reverence and awe) makes my commitment to work to protect this beautiful planet ever more fierce, which is why I bothered to write this long post. Without fierce commitment, we may be left only with this: a pursuit of pleasure that often comes—albeit unintentionally—at the expense of the natural world that sustains us all.

Our children are growing up with fewer and fewer opportunities to experience joy and wonder in their ultimate home—the earth—and more and more indulgences of pleasure (usually in the form of screen time) in what we call home: the buildings in which we reside. Without a connection to their ultimate home, and without experiencing the joy that comes from that connection, our children may grow up unwilling and unable to take the necessary steps to ensure that our planet remains healthy, and that other species thrive despite an ever-growing population of pleasure-seeking humans.

My message for today? Now and then, consider choosing joy over pleasure. Feed your fierce commitment to protecting life: yours and the generations of all species to follow.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

Image courtesy Curtis School.

I was recently introduced to educator Chris Thinnes’ work and writing through an essay he wrote for GOOD. Eager to learn more, I visited Chris’ blog and am now a huge fan. I wanted to share his great work and ideas with you.

Here’s a quote from one of his essays that I found particularly powerful, provocative and important:

“I wonder why we can’t together think more creatively, and generatively, about a dynamic vision of a future students can create, rather than a static vision of a marketplace they should simply service.”

This quote echoes our own questions at the Institute for Humane Education about the purpose of schooling, and our belief that we need to educate young people to be solutionaries for a better world, not simply competitors in the global economy.

We’ll be highlighting more of Chris’ great work and writing here at IHE, but do visit his site and learn more.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

Image courtesy merfam/Flickr.

At the EARCOS conference, one of the other keynote speakers was Michael Furdyk, co-founder of TakingITGlobal, a fantastic organization we’ve written about and highlighted at IHE.

During his keynote, Michael shared an interesting (if not disturbing) statistic from the BBDO GenWorld 2006 study. When teens were asked if they agreed with the statement, “I think the world is becoming a better place,” only 14 percent (on average) responded in the affirmative. The breakdown by country looked like this:

China 34%
Taiwan 25%
India 26%
Brazil 16%
Russia 15%
United States 14%
Australia 11%
Spain 10%
Poland 10%
United Kingdom 9%
Germany 9%
Mexico 6%
France 2%

What’s ironic about these statistics is that, historically, things have been improving for centuries. As I’ve written about before and most recently shared here, by so many measures the world is indeed becoming “a better place.” There is greater freedom and democracy; girls are able to go to school, and women are able to live self-determined lives in greater and greater numbers; gays and lesbians are gaining rights; nonhuman animals are gaining greater protections; tolerance is on the rise and prejudice on the decline; life expectancy has increased almost everywhere, and death by violence has never been lower than in the last half-century.

True, the expanding human population and increased standard of living for a growing percentage of people has meant faster resource depletion and more global warming; increased rates of species extinction, and higher numbers of animals being brutalized and killed for expanding global appetites for meat. And the rise of the middle class has certainly not reached everyone—far from it—and slavery, trafficking, and sweatshop labor persist.

But even as the problems we face become potentially more grave, the opportunities for young people (the target of this BBDO survey) to solve them expands dramatically as organizations such as TakingITGlobal and IHE help pave the way for greater learning, networking, solutionary thinking, and problem-solving.

I am not surprised that only a small percentage of youth believes the world is getting better. After all, because they are growing up in the information age, they now know more about the grave problems we face, something previous generations did not. Fortunately, the fact that they believe the world isn’t getting better does not seem to stop them from committing to improving it.

I wish these youth had a greater sense of the arc of history, but I’m relieved that they are, by and large, staving off apathy and despair and joining forces through a globally connected world (which, ironically, is a perfect example of how the world is getting better) to solve the challenges we face.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

When Singapore middle school principal Mike Johnston shared this video of a man living in a luxury apartment building in Singapore parking his high-end sports car in his living room, I thought it might be part of a sci-fi movie or a satiric piece of filmmaking.

It’s not.

But what a great humane education tool such a video is!

Imagine showing this film to a group of high school students and asking what they think of it. My guess is that a lot of them will think it’s very cool. Then imagine discussing it in the context of global issues, poverty, global warming, inequality. Imagine asking questions about rights and responsibilities. About freedom and inequity. Think of the lively discussion that would ensue.

If you do share this video in the context of education, remember to keep your own perspectives to yourself. The job of the educator is to share knowledge and instill the skills of creative and critical thinking, not to indoctrinate with personal ideologies. By using an activity like True Price, which examines the real costs of our consumer choices to people, animals and the earth, you enable your students to come to their own conclusions and devise their own actions to respond to the knowledge they gain.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

Image courtesy of Joelk75/Flickr.

For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent essay I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from “A Letter to High School Seniors: Don’t Accept College Rejections”:

Dear High School Seniors,

Over the past few weeks, many of you have received letters from the colleges to which you applied in the fall and winter.

Some of you are delighted with the outcome, having gotten into your top choice(s). Congratulations. This post is not for you.

Some of you are content, having gotten into a couple of schools that were high on your list. Wonderful. This post is not for you.

Some of you – all too many – are despairing because you received multiple rejections; got on wait lists that are unlikely to turn into acceptances; didn’t receive the financial aid you required; and realized that you actually have no interest in going to the affordable safety school that accepted you. This post is for you.

Many of you, who worked so hard and expected to get into an elite college with the kind of endowment that would ensure you could affordably attend with good financial aid, wonder why you even bothered to take all those AP courses; to study so diligently in classes that sometimes bored you to tears; to prep for the SATs; and to follow all the rules laid out for you during four years of high school.

Here’s my message to you: Don’t surrender your potential. Don’t accept the rejections. It’s time to forge your own path.

Read the complete essay.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

In my TEDx talk Solutionaries, I make the claim that we are living in less violent, less discriminatory, and less cruel times than ever before in recorded human history. I point this out regularly when I give talks, and often people find the statement surprising. Periodically they simply don’t believe it. So I refer these people to Steven Pinker’s painstakingly researched book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, that provides ample evidence to support this assertion.

Now there’s another take on it. Watch the 5-minute video above, The Joy of Stats, and marvel at the possibilities for creating positive change.

We don’t have to feel mired in the many horrors of the world. We can remind ourselves that positive change has happened and continues to happen, and our role is to be part of it, using our best skills and talents in the process .

With this in mind, go do your life’s great work and help others find their solutionary path as well.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

In this powerful 5-minute video, “She’s Alive… Beautiful… Finite… Hurting… Worth Dying For,” we are confronted with the reality that brave heroes – some known, many unknown – have died to protect this planet.

As this short video ended, I found myself simultaneously feeling such gratitude for the courageous women and men who risked everything to do what was right and good, and also hoping that children wouldn’t watch this film. I wouldn’t want them to think that striving to do good is such risky business.

It shouldn’t be.

And if we raise a generation of solutionaries it won’t be. Protecting the Earth must become the norm, and if children grow up understanding this, no poacher or corrupt and greedy industrialist will have a chance against such a generation.

That’s the goal. Let’s make it happen.

Become a humane educator.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

Another video Mike Johnston (see previous blog post here) shared with me was this four and a half minute film of children working together in school to create positive changes in just 5 minutes per day.

A cynic might watch this video and point out that these little acts don’t actually “change the world,” but what those cynics would miss is that these acts prepare these children to be solutionaries. By teaching, empowering, and engaging children in small actions that make a collective difference, these children learn that what they do matters. This is one of the most important lessons we can impart.

Imagine what these children will do when they enter the various professions to which they are drawn? I’m guessing that they’ll perceive themselves as agents of change and problem-solvers who address unsustainable and unjust systems within those professions. After all, that’s what they will have learned in school.

Once again, ask yourself this question: Who are these children’s teachers? What must they do differently in order to create a culture like this? How can we make this culture the norm?

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

One of the videos Mike Johnston (see previous blog post here) shared with me at the EARCOS conference was this introduction to the children’s group Plant for the Planet.

As you watch this 4-minute video, I invite you to focus on these two underlying realities: 1) This boy represents a powerful movement of countless children; and 2) All these children have teachers.

Who are those teachers who’ve empowered and supported these countless children and their incredible work? What must these teachers do to support these children and how must they incorporate the skills and tools for activism and real-world service into their curricula? These children clearly aren’t spending every day focused on preparation for standardized tests, and my guess is that they’re learning more, gaining real world skills, and finding voice, passion, and goodness in the process of learning

This is what education should be.

Children like these will be the outcome.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

Image courtesy Brit/Flickr.

It’s easy to feel despair in the wake of evil.

I read a post on Facebook after the Boston Marathon bombing from a person who wondered if she wanted to keep living after such a senseless, cruel, horrible act of violence. I sympathized. How do we cope with such insanity? How do we hold on to our belief in goodness?

Over the many hours that followed the bombings, practically all I read – on Facebook, through Twitter, and in the news – were outpourings of support and love and care for the victims and their families, and for the city of Boston itself. I read nothing that was cruel or heartless; nothing that supported the bombings; nothing that reveled in suffering.

No, millions of people are expressing love and compassion.

There is darkness in the world. There is cruelty and meanness and wanton violence and political violence. But they are ultimately small acts in the face of massive goodness – awful as they are when they happen. History shows a consistent and relentless shift toward greater democracy, greater understanding and tolerance, greater acceptance. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” and he was right.

Don’t we see this everywhere: Women voting and going to school; civil rights spreading across the globe; gays and lesbians receiving equal rights in many countries and states; animals receiving protections (albeit still far too limited) unheard of in previous centuries; global outcry against injustice, against exploitation, against environmental destruction?

Are our violent tendencies gone? Of course not. But we are not cheering at the Coliseum as slaves entertain thousands in fights to the death. Instead, we are crying by the millions as our fellow citizens are injured and killed by bombs detonated at a hallmark of our physical achievement: the Boston Marathon.

Let’s remember this: For every person who is evil, there are countless people who are deeply kind. For every murderer, there are people coming to the aid of strangers in droves. For every act of senseless violence, there are thousands of acts of meaningful goodness.

There is a way to speed the arc of the moral universe toward justice. It is through humane education: education of the mind so that we understand each other across borders and cultural boundaries; education of the heart so that we care enough to build a world of kindness toward all people, all species, and the earth itself; education of the hands so that we have the skills and the tools to solve our still very significant challenges, with our wisdom and compassion as our guides.

Let’s commit to this then, to humane education. Let’s make such acts as the bombing at the Boston Marathon, as the abuse of a child, the rape of a woman, the cruelty toward an animal the story of history.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.