Building Reverence into Our Daily Actions

Posted on June 4, 2012 by zoeweil

It’s almost time for our Student Residency this summer, and we’re busy preparing for another group of passionate, insightful humane educators.

I’ve been thinking about last summer, and the reverence-building activity led by IHE certificate graduate, Caroline Overbeek. The activity fits nicely into a science curriculum or as a launch point for a writing assignment in language arts, but it’s also a wonderful and inspiring activity for anyone who wants to build more reverence into their daily lives.

Caroline asked us to lie down in a circle, with our heads in the center but not touching anyone else, and to imagine that we were lying on the grass (this would be even better if done on the grass, but even in a classroom this works well). She led us through a guided meditation that invited us to imagine the atoms in our bodies and the atoms in the grass – similar of course, even though in different composition. As we relaxed more and more and realized our atomic connection to the grass and beyond, she invited us to associate this feeling of connection with the Earth with an everyday action. Telling us to imagine ourselves doing this action and to connect it to this feeling, she gave us a minute to keep replaying the image in our imaginations before ending the 15 minute activity.

That night, when I lifted my pillow on my bed to prop it against the headboard to read, I thought of Caroline and the feeling of connection with the Earth. This is because that was the everyday activity I had chosen. I’d long since forgotten about Caroline’s activity (it was one of many in a very packed day, with many other events before I went to bed), but there was that connection planted that morning. Every night since I’ve thought of Caroline and felt a peace descend as I climb into bed to read before sleep.

Divorced as so many of us and our children are from nature, this activity offers a possibility for connection that is profoundly important. We will care for and protect what we love, understand and revere, and something as simple as this science-oriented, reverence-building activity can set the stage for daily reminders of our connection with the Earth and our interdependence.

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Awakening Eyes

Posted on May 21, 2012 by zoeweil
Image copyright Edwin Barkdoll.

Years ago, when I first heard spring peepers and ventured out at night to see them, it took forever to find them. If I was lucky, I’d spot one after much searching. True, in those years they weren’t as plentiful at our pond as they are now. The family that dug the pond behind our house 20 years ago did so primarily to stock it with fish so that they could go fishing; but the second summer we lived here we had a heat wave that killed all nine fish over the course of a week. I remember feeling so sad as day after day the fish I’d loved to swim with in the small pond floated dead to the surface.

But in the absence of fish, the amphibian population has grown dramatically. Half a dozen species have found a home here, and this year we had spotted salamanders lay eggs for the first time. It’s deafening now in the spring, and on warm nights, we head out with flashlights to catch a glimpse of the small spring peepers with their big sounds.

Last night I had just 10 minutes between returning from my Aikido class and a scheduled conference call. I headed out, and in those ten minutes saw 20 peepers. Now I also see the night crawlers, earthworms who venture out of seemingly invisible holes, moving like a writhing earth as I walk by. They too were invisible to me years ago, and now they’re everywhere. My eyes are ready to see all this now, attuned as I’ve become to the night life in our backyard. I love that. I love that once we learn to see, we can always see. It’s a metaphor for me for awakening in general. May we each awaken to the mysterious, awesome life around us.

Enjoy this video of a spring peeper peeping in our backyard:

Spring Peeper video

For a humane world,

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Earth’s Best Friend is a Changemaker: The Glorious Work Ahead

Posted on October 10, 2011 by zoeweil

For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent post I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from Earth’s Best Friend is a Changemaker: The Glorious Work Ahead:

“… What the world – human and nonhuman animals and the Earth itself – urgently needs are activists and citizens who balance committed, confident energy with humility, and passionate, creative effort with wisdom. Our world is desperate for those who are willing to uncover every stone in an endeavor to understand the connections between all forms of oppression and destruction; who are eager to see problems from multiple angles; who want to work together, listening and learning from each other; who steadfastly refuse to accept or promote simplistic answers to complex problems; and who diligently strive for visionary solutions that help everyone.

Such people are surfacing across the globe. They are like the baseball players emerging out of Ray Kinsella’s corn field in the movie Field of Dreams, coming because they are compelled to leave behind something that doesn’t work, for a better vision that will. They are forming a new team that neither they nor anyone else set out to create, one that doesn’t confine them to playing a specific position in a predetermined game organized by others who call the shots.”

Read the complete essay.

For a humane world,

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

Image courtesy of Ashoka Photos via Creative Commons.

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Stretching Our Minds to Include the Whole World

Posted on October 5, 2011 by zoeweil
Image courtesy of Julien Lamarche via Creative Commons.

For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent post I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from Stretching Our Minds to Include the Whole World:

“… All is not right with the world, even if the sea stars are back in Patten Bay.

More often than not, we humans are provincial, focusing our passions and concerns quite narrowly. Whether it’s our neighborhood or city (I was once a snobbish New Yorker who disdained other places), our state, our sports’ teams or our nation, so frequently we’re patriots of places defined by political boundaries.

Meanwhile, the earth is surely our truest sense of place and home, since every inch of it is connected to every other, difficult though that is for a land-based, non-migratory species such as we to fathom. Yet there I was, happy and relieved to see the sea stars on a late September afternoon, the melting waters of the arctic, the flooding regions of Pakistan, typhoon-struck Manila, all far from my mind, though as connected to the health of my home as the sea stars.”

Read the complete essay.

For a humane world,

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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A Case for Humane Education

Posted on September 30, 2011 by zoeweil
As my blog post today, I want to share humane educator, Tim Donohue’s, excellent essay in Independent Teacher, “A Case for Humane Education.” Here’s an excerpt; enjoy!:

Against a student’s slate of classes that includes Hamlet’s potential suicide, the Holocaust, entropy, La Biographie de Robespierre, and the rules of trapezoids, humane education allows students to connect with the world that the archetypal graduation speakers say they “will inherit.”

President Barack Obama promised five million new green-collar jobs would rise out of this challenged economy, where survival seems to depend upon sustainable practices. The unlikely “Blue Green Alliance” between United Steelworkers and The Sierra Club underscores this. According to Executive Director Dave Foster, “It’s not a question of jobs or the environment. It’s both or neither.” When problems are conceived in absolute terms, critical thinking skills give way to bipartisan ruts. Humane education involves the sort of integrated thinking that promotes such “win-win” alliances and allow the most good and cause the least harm.

A lesson on urban transportation, for instance, considers not only the health of the local environment, but also that of the people who are commuting. It considers the quality of life for those who live near streets with high traffic volumes and whether urban planners could introduce healthier modes of transit. It takes the immediate problem of the danger a child might have in crossing the street and asks this student to re-vision — literally, drawn on paper — a viable, safer model. This one lesson, then, can enlighten the student about a wardrobe of green collar options: urban planning, environmental justice, alternative energies, public transportation advocacy, or architecture. No matter how beautiful The Great Gatsby is, it can’t do this.

Read the complete essay.

For a humane world,

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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In Praise of Generalists

Posted on September 7, 2011 by zoeweil

We live in the age of specialists who are often given a greater status than generalists. They may train in their specialty for years, becoming the experts we turn to for specific knowledge and information. Specialization begins early. We’ve broken down our subject categories from as early as Kindergarten, and honed those categories into tiny and discreet topics by college.

There is much to be gained in learning something in-depth. I don’t want an orthopedist doing eye surgery on me, and I’d like to consult a climatologist about the path of a hurricane rather than a biologist.

The problem lies when we have trained so exclusively in our specialty that we are largely incapable of considering and connecting the many related pieces of information to a larger whole. The big picture matters, and having educated generalists who can move fluidly between fields and subjects, linking the various “hard” sciences with social sciences and the arts and humanities (especially ethics), is crucial for wise choicemaking and system-changing.

While I understand the impulse for specialization, whether in the sciences or as an activist, too little information can ultimately cause us to see things less clearly, make unwise decisions, and come to too narrow conclusions. Being a Renaissance woman or man in today’s world is uncommon, yet bringing a bit of Renaissance breadth would help us all.

As a comprehensive humane educator and the creator of the first graduate programs in comprehensive humane education, I’ve struggled with the challenge of educating our students well on topics as seemingly disparate as education philosophy and practice, environmental ethics, human rights, animal protection, and the overarching topics of culture and change that include economic globalization, social psychology, ethics, and belief-systems. Choosing eight books each for five core content courses (along with films and articles) means that our graduate students may only read 40 books covering these topics before moving on to their thesis. One could easily read 40 books on education or human rights alone. And so while I worry a bit that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, my hope is that by making connections between these issues and embarking on the lifelong learning process involved in being a generalist (which humane educators must be), we will humbly keep pursuing new knowledge and new connections. (I know that I do, reading about 100 books each year.) With this knowledge base, humane educators have the capacity to draw links and “hyphens” between topics and issues and subjects to help learners expand their own thinking and develop their skills as broad-minded solutionaries, whether they too become generalists, or, like most people, specialists. But even if they follow the common path toward specialization, they will bring with them a generalist’s approach from the humane educators who’ve taught them.

For a humane world,

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

Image courtesy of MAMJODH via Creative Commons.

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Connecting Reverence-Building With Every Day Actions

Posted on July 15, 2011 by zoeweil

During our Educating for a Better World Summer Institute for teachers, Caroline Overbeek (a soon-to-be graduate of our humane education certificate program), led a reverence-building activity with us that fits nicely into a science curriculum or as a launch point for a writing assignment in language arts (and which is a wonderful and inspiring activity for anyone).

Caroline asked us to lie down in a circle, with our heads in the center but not touching anyone else, and to imagine that we were lying on the grass (this would be even better if done on the grass, but even in a classroom this works well). She led us through a guided meditation that invited us to imagine the atoms in our bodies and the atoms in the grass – similar of course, even though in different composition. As we relaxed more and more and realized our atomic connection to the grass and beyond, she invited us to associate this feeling of connection with the Earth with an everyday action. Telling us to imagine ourselves doing this action and to connect it to this feeling, she gave us a minute to keep replaying the image in our imaginations before ending the 15 minute activity.

That night, when I lifted my pillow on my bed to prop it against the headboard to read, I thought of Caroline and the feeling of connection with the Earth. This is because that was the everyday activity I had chosen. I’d long since forgotten about Caroline’s activity (it was one of many in a very packed day, with many other events before I went to bed), but there was that connection planted that morning. Every night since I’ve thought of Caroline and felt a peace descend as I climb into bed to read before sleep.

Divorced as so many of us and our children are from nature, this activity offers a possibility for connection that is profoundly important. We will care for and protect what we love, understand and revere, and something as simple as this science-oriented, reverence-building activity can set the stage for daily reminders of our connection with the Earth and our interdependence.

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Including Everyone in Our Circle of Compassion

Posted on June 24, 2011 by zoeweil

For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent post I wrote for One Green Planet, a blog dedicated to ethical choices. Here’s an excerpt from “Including Everyone in Our Circle of Compassion”:

“… And yet, despite the fact that social justice, environmental preservation, and animal protection are all part and parcel of a just, healthy, and humane world, I am periodically surprised by activists whose compassion is so exclusive as to actively reject embracing ideas and choices that are humane and peaceful toward all. While I don’t find such people enrolling in our programs, I do find them at activist conferences, rallies, and in the blogosphere, and it’s dismaying.

For many years, I found the most glaring example of the neglect of one suffering group by those active to end the suffering or exploitation of another in the catering at environmental and human rights events. Whether it was meat (and factory-farmed meat to boot) served at environmental events (despite the environmental toll of animal agriculture), or disposable plates and plastic utensils used at human rights events, it always seemed ironic to me that one or more exploited groups were so unnecessarily rejected as deserving of consideration.

As someone who cared passionately about animal exploitation and abuse and sought to eradicate it, and who also cared passionately about human suffering and exploitation and sought to eradicate it too, and who wanted desperately to protect our environment, I found the inconsistency of attention to compassion, care, and respect for all frustrating and upsetting. Why didn’t others feel, as I did, that everyone and everything should be treated with compassion and care?”

Read the complete post.

For a humane world,

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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An Orgy in My Backyard: Falling in Love with Nature

Posted on June 8, 2011 by zoeweil

It’s been a cold, rainy spring in Maine, so it was no surprise that after a beautiful, sunny June day, on a warm clear night, there was an orgy in my backyard. I’d never imagined experiencing so much sex happening all around me, but there I was in the thick of it. The June bugs who weren’t flying all around (and bumping into me) were paired up so thickly on the ground that I had to walk slowly and carefully, so as not to crush dozens of them. And at the pond, the peeping and trilling of the spring peepers and tree frogs was so loud I had to cover my ears.

Normally, it’s not easy to find the tiny spring peepers and the perfectly camouflaged tree frogs who quiet down as one approaches, but they were so seemingly determined to find a mate that night that they didn’t stop their calls for even a second. I even saw two peepers hook up (whereupon they stopped peeping and just focused on mating). It wasn’t just the process of creating life that was occurring that night. The big green frogs were looking for dinner, and I came upon one who was eating a tree frog. It was quite an extravaganza of life and death by that pond. Even the nightcrawlers – big, dark earthworms – were out in force, slithering back into their holes as I passed.

I reveled in it all, amazed to witness such an event in my backyard. Most of the time other species are hidden. With the exception of diurnal flying birds and lawn-hopping squirrels, it’s uncommon to see wildlife, even in rural areas. We’re so divorced from the natural world in our built environments, so when we get to experience the extravagance of nature, the deafening sounds coming out of animals no bigger than the top joint of our thumb, the reality that under our feet worms are teeming, turning refuse into fertile soil below the visible grass, we are reminded that we are one species among many, interdependent, all participating in the grand drama that is life.

It’s so important that we ensure that our children have opportunities to witness and experience nature in this way, to understand the mysterious and amazing and wondrous world that lies beyond their TVs and computers and classrooms, to know that they are part and parcel of something precious beyond words and currently threatened by the actions and choices of our species.

Please bring a child into the woods, or a meadow, or a park, or a seashore, or a prairie at night this spring. Let them fall in love so they’ll protect whom and what they love with all their power.

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 TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Beyond the Lens of Human Health: Let’s Ask Bigger Questions About the Impacts of Our Food Choices

Posted on April 1, 2009 by zoeweil

A friend of a friend, active on our food co-op board and an organic gardener and chef, admitted that she didn’t buy organic almonds because the shell protected the nuts from the pesticides; so, she wasn’t willing to pay the extra cost when there was an insignificant health benefit. I was surprised that she made the choice not to buy organic almonds for this reason. And I admit that I’m frustrated that the human health issue regarding organics is the one primarily promoted and/or debated in the media. Instead of discussing the impacts of pesticide use on the environment and on species other than ourselves, we focus all our attention on whether or not pesticides are dangerous to humans. If we get stuck there, then if it’s not proven by science to be dangerous to humans, we ignore everything else that’s dangerous about pesticides.

Personally, I don’t choose organic foods primarily for my health, but rather for the sake of the ecosystems my food choices affect. It’s the same issue with meat-eating. While I’m glad to know that my vegan diet is so healthy for me, my primary reason for not eating animals and animal products is to avoid causing unnecessary suffering and death to sentient beings. As soon as a certain animal food is touted as healthy or helpful in losing weight, it’s the primary lens through which people choose it. Like the e. coli and mad cow scares, once we’re assured certain foods are safe for us and the fear-mongering has died down, all other related issues are muted.

It’s important to make deeper connections and ask bigger questions about the impacts of our food choices. For example, whether or not organics are worth the cost for the potential health benefits to us, they are – assuming we can afford them – worth the costs to the water, air, soil, and all the species affected by pesticides.

~ Zoe

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