Podcasts
Zoe Weil Says ‘Education Is the Root System Underlying All Other Societal Systems
Zoe Weil on the Seed Field podcast by Antioch University, April 1, 2026
Learn More
Zoe Weil (pronounced Zoh Wile) is an educator, author, and speaker dedicated to helping build a future where all people, animals, and nature can thrive. As the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), Zoe empowers people to be solutionaries—compassionate changemakers who address systemic challenges with heart and intellect. Her work blends a commitment to justice, love for all life, and a belief in our capacity to transform systems through deep thinking and ethical action.
Zoe is a frequent keynote speaker at education and other conferences and has given six TEDx talks including her acclaimed TEDx, The World Becomes What You Teach. She’s written eight books including her 2024 book The Solutionary Way: Transform Your Life, Your Community, and the World for the Better with a foreword by Jane Goodall; Amazon #1 best seller in the Philosophy and Social Aspects of Education, The World Becomes What We Teach; Nautilus silver medal winner Most Good, Least Harm; Moonbeam gold medal winner Claude and Medea; and Above All, Be Kind.
Zoe is the 2023 recipient of the Spirit of America award, which honors people who follow their conscience and act against current thinking to stand up for equity, freedom, and the American spirit of justice. She was named one of Maine Magazine’s 50 independent leaders transforming their communities and the state and is the recipient of the Unity College Women in Environmental Leadership award. She holds master’s degrees from Harvard Divinity School and the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Valparaiso University.
A podcast amplifying the work of people solving problems and changing systems
In 2010, Zoe gave her first TEDx talk, “The World Becomes What You Teach,” which became among the 50 top-rated TEDx talks within a year. Since then, she has given five other TEDx talks: “Solutionaries”, “Educating for Freedom”, “How to be a Solutionary”, “Extending our Circle of Compassion” and “How Will You Answer this Question?”
Zoe is the author of eight books, including her Amazon #1 New Release in Social Philosophy, The Solutionary Way: Transform Your Life, Your Community, and the World for the Better, with a Foreword by Jane Goodall. Her book The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries was the Amazon #1 best seller in the philosophy and social aspects of education. Her book Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life won the Nautilus Silver Medal.
Zoe has also written books for young people including Moonbeam Gold Medal winner, Claude and Medea, a tween novel about young solutionaries. See all of Zoe’s book’s below.
Transform Your Life, Your Community, and the World for the Better offers a beacon of hope and a roadmap for action.
Amazon #1 Best Seller in the Philosophy and Social Aspects of Education
The Hellburn Dogs (2023/2007) Moonbeam Gold Medal winner
Nautilus Silver Medal winner
In addition to authoring books, Zoe has written numerous articles and is interviewed regularly on humane education, humane living, and the solutionary approach to addressing challenges. She regularly writes for Psychology Today’s “Becoming a Solutionary” column and for IHE’s blog.
Zoe Weil on the Seed Field podcast by Antioch University, April 1, 2026
Learn More
Zoe Weil on the Lives Well Lived Podcast with Peter Singer, March 5, 2026
Learn More
The Weekly Packet, Aron Farrar, January, 29, 2026
Learn More
Psychology Today, Zoe Weil, September 18, 2025
Learn More
A Personal Perspective: What a parsnip and AI taught me about character.
Learn More
The solutionary approach to agency, optimism, and mental health.
Learn More
What we do to billions of animals legally in the U.S. food system is far more extensive.
Learn More
Some years ago, well before the pandemic and the escalating rates of youth anxiety and depression.
Learn More
Zoe is an acclaimed and beloved speaker, whether keynoting an international conference, speaking to a group of high schoolers, or leading a workshop.
In 1987, I found my life’s work and discovered that this work had a name: humane education. I taught several week-long summer courses to middle school students at the University of Pennsylvania – one on environmental preservation and another on animal protection. We went on field trips, viewed videos filmed undercover, had great discussions, and focused on what we could do to make a difference. I watched in amazement as these 12- and 13-year-old students became passionate, committed changemakers virtually overnight.
I’ve stayed in touch with a few of them, and they are now extraordinary adults, still working to make a difference for people, other species, and the environment. One of them recounted that the humane education course changed his life. Since teaching these courses, my commitment to humane education has never wavered. I believe it is the most effective and important way to create an informed, conscious, and caring generation, and to prepare young people to be solutionaries who will make the world a better place through whatever professions they pursue.
Between 1988 and 1996, I taught tens of thousands of students about the problems we face and the solutions we can create. That experience deepened my passion for humane education and made me want to see comprehensive humane education grow and spread. At that time there were only a handful of us who were teaching about the interconnected problems of human oppression, rampant consumerism, animal abuse, and environmental destruction. Yet in order to solve global, systemic problems and create a world where everyone can survive and thrive, we needed a humane education movement that helped all teachers to become humane educators, all schools to prepare their students to be solutionaries, and everyone to be exposed to the interconnected issues covered by humane education and ready to transform unjust, unsustainable and inhumane systems.
In 1996, I co-founded the Institute for Humane Education (IHE) to train other people to be humane educators and to advance this important work, and now the solutionary movement is spreading, thanks to all our graduates, students, workshop and online course participants, and concerned citizens like you.
It is a privilege and a joy to be part of a movement that has the potential to solve the problems we face and create a restored, healthy, and humane world for all. As Henry David Thoreau once said, “There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the roots.” Nothing makes me more hopeful about the future than humane educators teaching and inspiring others, whether in schools and colleges, through the arts, in the media, through non-profits and businesses, in politics, in writing and filmmaking, or at camps and learning centers. They are doing the work that will foster solutions at the root. Thanks for all you are doing to teach and inspire others and to create a humane world.
“Changing the world one child at a time.” Those words have inspired my work for more than four decades in education, and they continue to inspire me now. We are at a pivotal point in the evolution of our world. We are facing a climate crisis, a health crisis, a crisis of racial justice, a crisis in our treatment of animals, a crisis of media bias. The list goes on. And perhaps our greatest crisis is our consistent struggle as a society to simply come together respectfully, intelligently, and ethically to solve our problems and save our planet. We need solutionaries. We need young people who have been educated not only to think critically, creatively, and systemically about real-world issues, but also to be passionate, persistent, and humane in their implementation of real-world solutions. And that is IHE’s mission: to support teachers and educational institutions in preparing young people to become solutionaries – and the next caretakers of our planet.
IHE offers a healing vision and a tangible pathway forward for a struggling world. As Executive Director, I am excited, humbled, and deeply honored to join with others to promote that vision and that pathway in ways that make them foundational to systems of education throughout the world – and to each child who is committed to making that world a better place.
Passionate about preparing young people to lead lives of joy and purpose, Steve Cochrane has had a remarkable journey through the field of education. It is a journey that has taken him from the campus of Princeton University, where he served as an admissions officer and an assistant dean of students, to the classroom of a public elementary school, where he had the privilege of teaching – and learning from – his fourth and fifth grade students. Steve has been a dorm director and associate dean of admissions at Wheelock College in Boston. He has also been an elementary school principal, a middle school principal, an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and, prior to his work at IHE, he was the superintendent of the Princeton Public Schools in Princeton, New Jersey where he was honored with the award of County Superintendent of the Year. In each of these roles, Steve has collaborated with others to prioritize innovations in learning, wellness for students, equity, and a belief that every child should be supported and inspired to achieve their highest potential.
Steve received his undergraduate degree in English from Princeton University and his master’s degree in educational administration from Harvard. He is a competitive road cyclist who also enjoys the thrill of mountain biking. Steve and his wife are both vegans and advocates for holistic health. They currently reside in Spencerport, New York, with their two dogs and a very large Maine Coon cat.