Don’t Believe Things Are Getting Better? Watch This Video

Posted on April 29, 2013 by zoeweil

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”

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I’m An Educator, So Don’t Believe Me

Posted on February 20, 2012 by zoeweil
Image courtesy of Flickr.

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 “I’m An Educator, So Don’t Believe Me”:

“When I teach, I often begin my classes by telling the students not to believe me. They’re usually shocked by this. It’s uncommon for teachers to discourage their students from believing what they say. What would be the point of school if teachers weren’t worth believing?

It’s not that I want my students to distrust me. Rather, I want my students to be able to distinguish fact from opinion and to be ready and willing to ascertain the validity of any statements or statistics they hear, see, or read. This is no easy task. How can any of us know whether the information we read and hear is accurate?”

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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WebSpotlight: Worldmapper.org

Posted on December 5, 2008 by zoeweil

I highly recommend a visit to World Mapper, where you can view a remarkable collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.   Want to compare countries based on carbon footprint? Toy exports or imports? HIV/AIDS? Infant mortality? There are nearly 600 maps, and this fascinating, sobering, and revealing visual representation is not only personally useful for anyone involved in research, investigation, and changemaking, but for all educators (and parents) looking for new and interesting ways to share important information with students/youth.

~ Zoe

Map image © Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

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Statistics

Posted on December 4, 2007 by zoeweil

StatisticsIn the book, The Myth of Progress, author Tom Wessels shares the following from Bjorn Lomborg’s The Skeptical Environmentalist:

“Discussing forests, Worldwatch Institute categorically states that the world’s forest estate has declined significantly in both area and quality in recent decades. As we shall see in the section on forests, the longest data series from the UN’s FAO show that global forest cover has increased from 30.04 percent in 1994, an increase of 0.85 percentage points over the last 33 years.”

Well, that’s certainly a surprise, isn’t it?

But Wessels goes to the source of Lomborg’s statistic (the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization) which defines a forest as: “any site that is greater than 0.5 hectares in size, with trees that reach a minimum of five meters in height and a crown coverage that exceeds 10 percent of the area.” Wessels explains that under this definition many suburban lawns, golf courses, and city parks would be considered forests! Exploring further, Wessel also learns that under the FAO guidelines tree plantations, tree nurseries and even recent clearcuts also fall under the definition of forest “if in time they will grow sixteen-foot tall trees.”

To me, this is another reminder to be very wary of statistics. Whenever we read or hear them, whether they support our personal ideologies or not, we need to question them.

~ Zoe

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