Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (www.HumaneEducation.org) and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement, which provides people with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to be conscientious choicemakers and engaged changemakers for a better world. Zoe created the first Master of Education and Certificate Program in Humane Education in the U.S. covering the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection. She has also created acclaimed online programs and leads workshops and speaks at universities, conferences, and events across the U.S. and Canada. She has taught tens of thousands students through her innovative school presentations, and has trained several thousand teachers through her workshops and programs.
What if we all had the passion and skills to solve the most pressing challenges of our time, and, through our daily choices, work, and acts of citizenship, made choices that do the most good and least harm for ourselves, other people, animals, and the earth?
IMAGINE the world we would create.
Humane education is the key to creating such a world.
Humane education is a lens, body of knowledge, and set of tools and strategies for teaching about human rights, animal protection, environmental stewardship, and cultural issues as interconnected and integral dimensions of a just, healthy society.
Humane education not only instills the desire and capacity to live with compassion, integrity, and wisdom, but also provides the knowledge and tools to put our values into action in meaningful, far-reaching ways so that we can find solutions that work for all.
Humane education includes 4 elements:
- Providing accurate information (so we have the knowledge to face challenges);
- Fostering the 3C’s: curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking (so we have the tools to meet challenges);
- Instilling the 3R’s: reverence, respect, and responsibility (so we have the motivation to confront challenges);
- Offering positive choices and tools for problem solving (so we will be able to solve challenges
Zoe's most recent book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life, won the 2010 Nautilus silver medal in sustainability and green values. She is the author of several other books including Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times for parents; The Power and Promise of Humane Education for educators; and Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs, winner of the Moonbeam gold medal in juvenile fiction, which follows the exploits of two seventh graders who become clandestine activists in New York City, righting wrongs where they find them.
