Why You Should Use These Images to Inspire Climate Change Action

by Marsha Rakestraw While images of polar bears clinging to bits of ice or of widespread deforestation might motivate those of us who are biophiliacs, many people find them uninspiring. Images can influence and galvanize us, but it matters what those images depict. When it comes to climate action, photos of polar bears and protesters…

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Resources: Dead Zone header

Solutionary Unit: Dead Zones in Gulf of Mexico

What Do the Primary Causes of Death in the US Have to Do With the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico? What are the biggest killers of people in the U.S. today? What is the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico? How can these two seemingly disparate problems possibly be connected? This unit…

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Ivy Mandy Liat

I Am a Humane Educator: Ivy, Mandy, and Liat

Last year Ivy and Liat, students at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, connected with Mandy Schmidt, an IHE M.Ed. student, to develop a humane education summer camp for students in Hefei, China. Ivy (Chang) He, is an international student from Heifei, and founded the group Humaneness 101. Liat Yael Kastner is studying environmental studies and…

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Humane Educator’s Toolbox: Changing Systems Through Design

Many of us make the choices we do because we’re trying to do the right thing – we want to do the most good and least harm for people, nonhuman animals, and the earth. But what we think we know about making more sustainable choices is often based on incomplete information. And we’re often limited…

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Why We Need Humane Education: 35.8 Million Slaves

In some of our professional development at the Institute for Humane Education, participants learn about modern slavery. What they discover often shocks and horrifies them. Many people in developed countries remain unaware of slavery as a contemporary challenge, assuming that such practices ended in the 19th century. And often those who know about modern slavery…

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Inspiring Changemakers to Find Solutions with the Rethink Challenge

by Marsha Rakestraw One of the most powerful aspects of humane education is its focus on positive solutions. Educating students about global challenges is important, but it’s the integration of connection, creativity, critical thinking, and creating solutions that really feeds and enables students’ hunger for becoming changemakers for a better world. In the Summer 2014…

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kids

8 Videos Exploring Empathy

by Marsha Rakestraw Empathy is a key component of humane education, and something our society is increasingly recognizing as essential to our well-being and that of the world. Studies show that we’re innately wired to be empathetic. When we’re able to put ourselves in the place of another, and to imagine the kind of world…

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bully free

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly About Bullying Prevention in Schools

by Marsha Rakestraw We’re fans of the pro-hero approach, rather than using an anti-bullying framework, but given that most educational institutions still think and act in terms of anti-bullying, this 2013 study by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) is relevant to anyone concerned about bullying in schools and universities. “Prevention of Bullying in Schools,…

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bully free

We Need Pro-Hero Schools Instead of Anti-Bully Schools

by Matt Langdon It is very easy to find the term anti-bully these days. Look in any school and there’s a good chance you’ll see it on the walls. Look in the news and you’ll see governments (state, local, school) using it. It’s a term that has started making me cringe. For four quite different…

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