Rae Sikora, Co-Founder of the Institute for Humane Education, reflects on more than four decades of humane education rooted in compassion for all life. At the heart of the episode is her practice of meeting harm, resistance, and disagreement with love as her most powerful inclination and strategy. The result is a deeply personal and useful episode about how humane education can keep people’s “heart door” open while still asking them to examine the impact of their choices.

Follow Rae Sikora:

Website: www.plantpeacedaily.org

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources:

Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

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About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life.

Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact

Navin Amarasuriya, CEO of the Contentment Foundation, explores what it means to educate for agency, attention, compassion, and contentment in a time shaped by persuasive technologies and accelerating change. Nav connects his own path from a family business to contemplative practice and service with a broader question about what schools can cultivate beyond academic performance. He emphasizes that educator wellbeing is not a side issue, but a foundational necessity for the children they teach. Navin’s perspective invites a deeper view of education as a place where inner development, systems awareness, and human flourishing meet.

Follow Nav:

Website: https://contentment.org

Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navin-amarasuriya-b4496211a/

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources:

Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/zoeweil

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoeweilauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zoeweil

About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life.

Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact

Shariff Abdullah, author of Creating a World That Works for All and founder of the Commonway Institute, frames his life’s work around a deceptively simple question: how do we create a world that works for all living beings? He connects that question to a shift in consciousness, moving from separateness toward a recognition of interdependence. Shariff emphasizes that inclusivity is not about liking everyone or agreeing with them, but about recognizing shared belonging and acting from that recognition. The episode moves through his upbringing in Camden, NJ, his framework of Keepers, Breakers, and Minders, and the practical challenge of living in accordance with one’s deepest values. Shariff does not offer a simple policy solution. Rather, he asks what kind of consciousness, behaviors, and sense of responsibility would be required to build institutions that serve life, arguing that transformation begins with how people relate to what they do not like, do not understand, or would rather ignore.

Follow Shariff Abdullah: Website:

https://www.commonway.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shariff-abdullah-2a551714/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base%3BowvfKDX6R2i75sURrSz%2Bxg%3D%3D

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shariff.abdullahJD

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources: Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/zoeweil Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoeweilauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zoeweil

About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life. Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact

Dotsie Bausch, Olympic silver medalist and Founder of Switch4Good, discusses how cycling saved her life and how compassion shaped her life’s work. Dotsie traces her shift away from animal products to a deeper awareness of the food system, then explains how dairy became Switch4Good’s primary leverage point for health, justice, animal protection, and environmental impact. Her perspective is grounded in practical behavior change: people need more than information, and lasting shifts often begin with access, choice, and a first experience of feeling better. The episode connects personal values with systems-level advocacy, especially around school meals, dairy marketing, plant-based options, and the cultural myths that shape what people believe is necessary for health.

Follow Dotsie Bausch:

Website: switch4good.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/switch4good

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources:

Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/zoeweil

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoeweilauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zoeweil

About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life.

Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, medical director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, frames the opioid crisis as an epidemic of opioid addiction rooted in aggressive prescribing, pharmaceutical influence, regulatory failure, and inadequate access to treatment. The episode moves beyond blame toward a systems-level examination of what failed, what remains unrepaired, and what would be required to prevent similar public health crises in the future. Dr. Kolodny consistently returns to the same solutionary structure: prevent opioid use disorder and ensure people already suffering from it can access effective treatment. The episode also raises difficult questions about pharmaceutical accountability, sealed litigation records, settlement funds, cannabis legalization, kratom, chronic pain, and the need for more nuanced policy than simple prohibition or legalization. His core solution centers on preventing new cases of opioid addiction while making effective treatment easier to access than illicit opioids.

Follow Andrew Kolodny:

Brandeis: https://scholarworks.brandeis.edu/esploro/profile/andrew_kolodny/overview

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-kolodny-3b8409a/

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources:

Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/zoeweil

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoeweilauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zoeweil

About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life.

Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact

Ayo Magwood, founder of Uprooting Inequity, focuses on reducing racial and income disparities through measurable, system-level interventions, particularly in healthcare. She outlines a structured framework for understanding structural racism through interconnected factors of bias, income, and place, emphasizing how these forces shape real-world outcomes. Her work shifts the focus from individual attitudes to institutional design, showing how organizations can create tangible improvements in health equity. By grounding solutions in data, geography, and personal experiences, she demonstrates how complex inequities can be addressed with clarity and precision.

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources:

Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/zoeweil

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoeweilauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zoeweil

About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life.

Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact

Nimo Patel’s story follows several forms of success, including business, music, entrepreneurship, and performance, before arriving at a deeper definition of purpose. The episode reveals how the recognition of misalignment can become a doorway into service when one is willing to listen, change course, and release attachment to outcomes. Nimo’s work with children in Ahmedabad becomes the clearest expression of this shift, where art is not the mission but the shared practice that makes dignity, belonging, and transformation possible. The episode also explores how music and presence can create connection, whether in prisons or universities.

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources:

Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/zoeweil

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoeweilauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zoeweil

About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life.

Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact

Shirin Karsan, a former refugee from Uganda, long-time educator, and peacebuilder, explores how conflict, bias, and disconnection persist when we fail to pay attention to our relationality. Drawing from immersive experiences she developed as a college professor when she joined her students in an experiment to live on $2/day in preparation for their service work in Africa –she illustrates how perspective shifts occur when people confront their assumptions and recognize their interdependence. Without this awareness, conflict can escalates into division and harm, but with it, even disagreement can become a pathway to connection and change.

Follow the Institute for Humane Education for updates, episode releases, and resources:

Website: https://www.humaneeducation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.weil

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/zoeweil

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoeweilauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zoeweil

About the Podcast Solutionary Voices is a podcast hosted by Zoe Weil and produced by the Institute for Humane Education. Each episode highlights individuals who are working on the forefront of building a more humane, just, and healthy world for all people, animals, and the ecosystems that sustain life.

Episodes:

• Bring solutionary thinkers to a wide audience

• Offer ideas for solving the problems we face in a range of arenas

• Provide actionable ideas

• Turn values into measurable impact