Humane Edge E-News December 2008

In This Issue:

• A GIFT GUIDE FOR HAPPIER, HUMANE HOLIDAYS
  
• FEATURED ACTIVITY: CIRCLE OF COMPASSION
• HELP CREATE A PEACEFUL, SUSTAINABLE, HUMANE WORLD (& GET ZOE'S NEW BOOK AS A THANK YOU)
• DON'T SWEAT(SHOP) THE SMALL STUFF
  
• SHARE YOUR IDEAS FOR CHANGE IN AMERICA
  
• HUMANE EDUCATION IN ACTION: EDUCATING FOR GREATNESS
  
• FEATURED STUDENT: KAREN PATTERSON

A GIFT GUIDE FOR HAPPIER, HUMANE HOLIDAYS

News headlines read “Merry Wal-mart, America” and “It’s Beginning to Look at Lot Like a Wal-mart Christmas.” A New York Times article outlines Wal-mart’s glee at expected increases in sales this holiday, while many other retailers plan for a financially dismal season. Wal-mart’s CEO says, “In my mind, there is no doubt that this is Wal-Mart time.” People are hurting for cash this season, and many are turning to the big box chains for lower prices on stuff. But what’s not coming out in the news is that giving your money to corporations such as Wal-mart means supporting low wages, undercutting local merchants, increasing urban sprawl, buying goods made with sweatshop and child labor, and so on.

And then every year we read stories giving us tips for reducing our holiday stress and surviving holiday shopping. And stories about people attacking (or occasionally killing) each other for the privilege of snagging the last must-have toy of the year (whose popularity quickly fades and is replaced by another toy). And stories about buying the perfect green gifts (that usually cost a lot more green than you could ever afford).

What’s with all the stress and violence and need to give and receive a big pile of stuff each holiday? The winter holidays used to be a time of spirituality, family and reflection, and they’ve become an homage to the gods of consumerism, stress and distraction.

This year when thinking about giving gifts to loved ones, consider these healthier, more humane alternatives:

Consider focusing on other important aspects of the season, such as visiting friends or spending quality time with family. Nurturing relationships is an important gift in itself. Alternatively, in the season of goodwill toward others, instead of spending your time shopping, spend it helping those who need it; volunteer for local groups in your community. Make it a family (or friends) affair and share the gifts of your time and talents with others.

If giving a gift is a must, consider:

• Make a donation in their name to a worthy cause, especially one that supports their interests. My husband's sister donates to their local humane society in our name each year, which makes us both happy, helps others and doesn't add to our stack of stuff. You can even band together with friends and give the gift of water to those who need it. How can most material gifts compete with that?  Be sure to skip supporting the cause by buying the adorable commemorative ornament or calendar or mug, though; such items mean less money going to the actual cause and may support the very practices you’re trying to avoid.
• Think creatively. This year's Yes! Magazine staff’s list of suggested gifts includes some really creative ideas, such as fixing a treasured item that’s broken, or taking a class together. Think unique, experiential, personal, and meaningful. Do they love farmers' markets? How about a split share in a CSA? Do they have a sweet tooth? How about baking them a different decadent delight each month? Have they been meaning to organize all those digital photos from that unforgettable trip? Make them a special annotated scrapbook on Flickr or another shared photo site.
• Make sure the gift is something that they truly need, want, and will use. Granted, my husband and I live more simply than many people, but it always seemed such a sad waste that almost every gift we received for several years -- though well-meant -- was nothing we could use or wanted and usually ended up going straight to the thrift store.
  
  Food can be a good gift choice, if you know people's preferences. For many years we made pumpkin or banana bread-in-a-jar gifts for friends and co-workers. The gift was yummy and included a reusable jar and the recipe. My husband’s mother always sends us organic fruit from a company here in Oregon. One year we made all our family vegan recipe books of well-tested tasty dishes that they were likely to enjoy…and so they wouldn’t worry about what to feed us when we visited.
• Make sure the gift fits the MOGO product criteria, i.e., the gift is:

• Humane to other people – that is, produced according to fair labor practices that do not exploit, oppress, and cause suffering to others.
• Humane to animals – that is, its production does not cause animals to suffer and/or die.
• Sustainable and/or restorative – that is, its production and disposal can be sustained through available resources, without causing destruction to ecosystems, and may actually contribute to ecological repair.
• Personally life enhancing – that is, it brings something positive to their lives and does not become one more burdensome thing to take care of.

• Make the gift yourself. But again, give them something that they really need or want. DIY is becoming the rage, with the ailing economy and increased awareness of consumerism, but just because you can make something cool MacGyver-style out toilet paper tubes and used staples doesn’t mean it should be a gift. One of my co-workers used to knit cute holiday ornaments for everyone in the building each year, which was really kind and thoughtful. But, being someone who lives a simple life, such items weren't something I could use.
• Rethink used. Used items carry such a stigma for some people. "What?! You don't care about me enough to get me something new?!" But often, reusing items can make the perfect gift. Your friend has always raved about that doodad you no longer want? Wrap it up and surprise him with it. Know the perfect book to give your mom? You can probably find it in excellent condition at a used book store. One year a group of us had a "white elephant" exchange with a twist. Instead of bringing yucky junk we didn't want anymore, we each found something truly useful from our homes that we were ready to pass on to someone else. Talk about fighting over good stuff!
• Make sure the present and its gift wrap are recyclable, reusable and/or biodegradable.

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FEATURED ACTIVITY: CIRCLE OF COMPASSION

What is compassion? Who and what are in our circles of compassion? This activity offers an exploration of compassion and uses "scenario" stations to inspire participants to think about who's in their circle of compassion and why, and what they can do to make a positive difference for those being oppressed. Recommended for grades 4 and up. Download Circle of Compassion.

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HELP CREATE A PEACEFUL, SUSTAINABLE, HUMANE WORLD (AND GET MY NEW BOOK AS A THANK YOU!)

“Spending that week with you was the most inspiring five days of my life so far. You made me realize how much just one person can do to help the world…”

"I have no doubt that last week will stay with me my entire life, and I thank you for giving me that experience and the courage to change the world."

The quotes above are from two of the letters I received after teaching a humane education class this year.  I receive many more, just like them.  For me, this reinforces my belief that humane education is the most important work of our time. 

Last week I taught a humane education mini-course with middle school students, in which we discussed changing destructive, inhumane systems to positive, healthy, just ones. The students were inspired to develop ideas of their own for changing systems. One student’s idea captured the imagination and enthusiasm of the whole class: to place a jar in the classroom in which each student would put $1/week. At the end of each month, the class would have about $100 with which to do good in their local and global communities.

This is the kind of positive and generous action that will help create a humane world, and actions like this are spreading through the efforts of our M.Ed. and certificate program students and graduates, who are doing amazing work:

Christopher Greenslate and Karen Patterson bring humane education into their school classrooms every day. Through their work with non-profit organizations, Bob Schwalb, Susan Hargreaves and James Wildman give presentations to thousands of school students every year. Becky Morgan and Holly Clark use our connection to the land and to food to inspire and educate adults and children to grow, purchase, and eat healthy, sustainably-produced and humane foods. Gina Diamond and Roberto Giannicola have started their own businesses to help people make humane choices. Magaly Madrid, Peterson Obusuru and Marie Cappuccio are partnering with international organizations to spark positive change through humane education overseas. There are so many more stories we could share!

With your financial support, we can create more stories like these and help realize the compassionate, sustainable, just world we know is possible.

We welcome and appreciate any amount of financial support.  But, right now, we also have an unprecedented and exciting opportunity.  Several dedicated supporters want to see us grow, and they are challenging YOU to help us.  Together they have pledged a total of $30,000, BUT ONLY IF YOU HELP US MATCH IT WITH GIFTS OF $250 OR MORE BY DECEMBER 15th.  If you have never given a gift this size to IHE before, now is the time.  Your gift will be instantly doubled!  Please, help us take advantage of this incredible opportunity.

I also want to mention that, as another way of saying thank you, for any gift of $100 or more, you’ll receive my new book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life, which will be published in January.

This year, we are going to train even more people to be humane educators who reach thousands more people. And in 2009 we’re launching new month-long Sowing Seeds Online and MOGO (Most Good) Online courses to enable people around the world to participate and make a positive difference. 

Thank you for all the support you’ve given us. Together it is in our power to create a peaceful, sustainable, and humane world.

Warmest wishes,

Zoe Weil, IHE President

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DON'T SWEAT(SHOP) THE SMALL STUFF

While our children are all nestled in their beds with visions of sugarplums dancing about, and they're looking forward to acquiring a whole slew of new stuff that they'll be talking about incessantly with their friends for weeks after winter break is over, it's an excellent time to encourage them to think critically about all that new stuff -- much of which quite possibly came from sweatshops.

Several websites address issues of sweatshops, child labor and fair trade. Here are a few that might be useful for helping youth explore these issues.

Co-op America’s Ending Sweatshops Program provides information about sweatshops, tips for avoiding sweatshop products, and a sweat-free products guide.

Global Exchange Sweatfree Communities offers information about sweatshop issues, resources and ideas. Their site also has a Sweatfree Toolkit for launching a sweatfree campaign in your community.

The focus of the National Labor Committee is “putting a human face on the global economy.” At their website you’ll find personal accounts, photos, news and information about worker conditions around the world.

The Smithsonian Institution currently has an online exhibit about the history of sweatshops in the U.S. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820 – present, provides a variety of information and perspectives.

If you’re interested in learning more about sweatshop issues and want to become active in promoting sweatshop-free products and communities, Sweatfree Communities has campaign materials and other information to help citizens create sweatfree communities, as well as a variety of educational resources. They also offer a “Shop with a Conscience Guide.”

Sweatfree also has announced its 2008 Sweatshop Hall of Shame, focusing on corporations that have “consistently flouted labor laws and basic worker protections.” This year’s “honorees” are American Eagle, Carrefour, Cintas, Dickies, Disney, Guess, Hanes, New Era, Speedo, Tommy Hilfiger, Toys "R" Us, and Wal-Mart.

And, for those interested in taking up legislative action against sweatshops, the NLC has been tracking anti-sweatshop legislation in the U.S. Congress. If the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act passes, it would “prohibit the import, export or sale of sweatshop goods in the U.S.” The bill was first introduced at the beginning of 2007. So far, about 26 senators and 175 representatives have signed as co-sponsors to the legislation. Students and others are invited to write their representatives to ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor (or to thank them for being one), as well as to encourage other organizations to endorse this legislation.

And, of course, IHE has a variety of humane education activities related to human rights issues, such as Where in the World, which helps students (grades 9 & up) make connections between what they wear and the conditions under which it's made.

Image courtesy of cambodia4kidsorg.


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SHARE YOUR IDEAS FOR CHANGE IN AMERICA

President-elect Obama campaigned on a message of positive change, and it's more important than ever that all of us who want to create a humane, just, sustainable, peaceful world take advantage of opportunities to share our ideas and creative solutions. Since his election, Obama's transition team has created Change.gov, which offers an opportunity for us to share our knowledge, vision, and practical suggestions for how to solve the challenges we face.

Recently, other opportunities have arisen to let our voices be heard and to share our ideas for creating a better world, including:

TED prize winner Karen Armstrong has launched her Charter for Compassion site, to encourage people to share their views, ideas and stories for helping create a Charter for Compassion signed by religious leaders of all faiths.

Change.org and MySpace, partnering with a variety of organizations, have launched Ideas for Change in America, a chance for citizens to share their views and offer their creative solutions for advancing positive change. At both Change.org and MySpace participants can share their ideas, discuss ideas, and vote on ideas. The top ideas will be submitted to the Obama Administration.

AlterNet, an independent online news magazine, has launched 100 Words for 100 Days, inviting citizens to share a 100 word essay outlining their ideas for Obama’s first 100 days in office. Many of the essays will be posted on AlterNet for others to read.

Take time to let speak your piece, and encourage others to do the same.

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HUMANE EDUCATION IN ACTION: EDUCATING FOR GREATNESS

IHE HECP student Phoebe Tufts has a passion for helping kids realize their value and power and for encouraging them to become problem solvers for a humane world. She has been working to transform the educational system to give kids what they truly need and empower them to enact positive change.

IHE: What led you to the path of humane education?
 
PT: My principal, Craig Carscallen, handed me Zoe Weil’s The Power and Promise of Humane Education and the torch was lit!

IHE: You’re working on several humane education projects related to schools. Tell us about them. How did you get involved? How are they going?

PT: After reading Lynn Stoddard’s Educating for Human Greatness, I emailed him the following (which he now has on the back cover of his condensed version of the book). “Thank you for writing such a terrific book! I have ordered 10 copies to distribute to school board members and activist parents in my community. As I begin my 15th year of teaching, I weep as I recognize the truth of what you have written.” Lynn and I have been in contact ever since. In answer to Lynn’s seemingly rhetorical question: “How did NCLB ever come to be?” I found Tamim Ansary’s article in Edutopia magazine. Lynn contacted Tamim and, with his permission, Lynn and I began to send the article -- and Lynn’s pamphlet -- to anyone and everyone who might be interested, from PTA presidents to State Commissioners of Education, to activist parents, to school board members. Lynn has formed a group (of which I am a part) that is working on a single page document to send to legislators around the country. This is still in process.

I also am taking this year off from teaching to volunteer in my school to support my principal. Craig, in his efforts to more effectively reach our kids. Southeastern Alternative School (SAS) is home to students who not only start far behind their peers in terms of family security, but who have landed in trouble with school officials and often, the law. There are no resources available to students who do not fit into a rigid system that says “We will fill you full of facts and you regurgitate them on state tests and you are educated.” Often, these very students end up at Southeastern because they see that the emperor is wearing no clothes and in frustration they “step out of line.” Their distress is palpable. In my three years as a teacher at SAS I have discovered that Craig focuses on the priorities as described by Lynn Stoddard in his work Educating for Human Greatness, including Identity, Interaction, Initiative, Imagination, Intuition and Integrity. Much of my time and energy now is spent on helping Craig in his mission to focus on the second priority, Inquiry, which requires taking students outside the classroom. The purpose of stepping outside the classroom is to stimulate curiosity, awaken a sense of wonder and appreciation for nature and humankind and help students develop the power to ask important, penetrating questions.

I’m also teaching a developmental reading course at my local community college, using the resources that I have used and discovered through my education with IHE.


IHE: Describe a typical week for you.

PT: A typical week includes planning with teachers at the school and staff at off-campus sites and then traveling with teachers and students to those sites. I also volunteer at those off-campus sites in order to more effectively plan activities for students when they arrive. I work with a former student (now home with her young boys) helping her on her GED test preparation and meet once a week with the chess team at school.


IHE: How are people responding to what you’re doing?

PT: The response has been hugely positive. I have always aspired to be a catalyst and that is happening. I think the courses at IHE have had such an impact on me that I have begun to "live" humane education; I am incorporating what I have learned into how I approach students, collaborate with teachers/administrators and create/facilitate opportunities to get students into environmental education programs, and it is having a real positive impact.


IHE: What are some of your biggest challenges?

PT: My biggest challenge is to remind myself that if I meet resistance in any form to see it as an opportunity for personal growth and remember to keep breathing!


IHE: Share a success story. What has encouraged you?

PT: A small group of our students were presented with a low element problem on an outdoor challenge course, which required teamwork, communication and physical strategy. The students' thinking out-of-the-box approach and the natural leadership that surfaced earned them high accolades from the director, who had never seen a group do so well. He bragged about our kids when he was making a presentation to a granting agency, comparing their approach to the approach of students from the Governor’s School (a school of the “best and brightest” juniors and seniors, who take college-level courses).


IHE: What are your thoughts about the power of humane education to positively transform the world?

PT: We each have a genius inside -- the genius that will direct us in how we serve the world. IHE students are not only exposed to the issues that matter to us all on this planet, we are given tools and skills to tackle these issues. As our lives change, we become part of the transformation.


IHE: Any future dreams, plans or projects?

PT: Stay in the moment and live life knowing that we are all one on this planet.

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FEATURED STUDENT: KAREN PATTERSON

Being inspired to show compassion to people, animals and the planet when she was young led IHE M.Ed. student Karen Patterson to want to spread the teaching of compassion to others. Now she brings what she's learned to her elementary school students. Read more about Karen.

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