Forges a path away from polarization toward ethical problem solving and a more humane, equitable, and healthy society
From tackling injustice to protecting the environment to ending animal cruelty to improving the strength of our communities, deep divisions in our society often prevent us from working collaboratively to solve the problems we face.
Based on Zoe Weil's decades of work as a humane educator, The Solutionary Way provides clear, achievable methods to bridge divides, address the causes of seemingly intractable challenges, and create positive change. Grounded in evidence-based optimism and illustrated with dozens of real-world examples, this book provides:
- A guide to the primary components of a solutionary mindset—critical, systems, strategic, and creative thinking
- A comprehensive articulation of the solutionary framework (Identify, Investigate, Innovate, and Implement)
- A compelling argument for the MOGO principle—to do the most good and least harm for people, animals, and the environment
- An overview of emerging solutions to a variety of systemic, rather than solitary, problems
- The personal benefits associated with becoming a solutionary, from a greater sense of purpose to deeper compassion and reduced feelings of apathy and isolation.
This exciting and empowering book will appeal to a broad audience, including changemakers, activists, advocates for social justice, environmental sustainability, and animal protection, business and political leaders, and anyone who yearns to contribute to a healthy, equitable, and humane world.
Table of Contents:
Foreword
Preface: A Better World Is Possible
Introduction: Bad and Better at the Same Time
Chapter 1: A Solutionary Mindset for Next-Level Change
What I've Learned from Improv Comedy
Build relationships
Embrace "Yes, and..."
Bring the love
Help others shine
Cultivating a Solutionary Mindset
What Is a Solutionary Lens?
Solutionary = Next-level Changemaker
Solutionaries take problem-solving to the next level
Solutionaries take humanitarianism to the next level
Solutionaries take problem-identification to the next level
Solutionaries take activism to the next level
Chapter 2: Most Good, Least Harm (MOGO)
Would You Kill a Cousin for a Full Head of Hair?
The MOGO Principle
Do Our Personal Choices Really Matter?
Why the Superlative?
The 3 I's
Inquiry
Introspection
Integrity
MOGO for Whom?
Which birds?
Which sea animals?
Which people?
Make MOGO Choices, But Don't Stop There
Chapter 3: Thinking Like a Solutionary
Be Aware of Assumptions and Judgments
Resist Judgmentalness
What Is Solutionary Thinking?
Critical thinking
Systems thinking
Strategic thinking
Creative thinking
Challenge the Ten Instincts
Chapter 4: Preparing for Your Solutionary Practice
What Is the Story and Path that Led You to This Process?
What Are You Good At? What Do You Love to Do?
Did You Know?
Strive to Be a Campfire Rather than a Forest Fire
Chapter 5: The Four Phases of the Solutionary Process
Phase I: Identify
Select an issue to learn more about
Identify the problem you want to solve
Write down a problem statement
Phase II: Investigate
Connect with everyone you can who has a stake in the problem
Determine the causes of the problem
Research what has succeeded and failed at solving the problem
Phase III: Innovate
Develop solutions that address the causes of the problem, avoid unintended negative consequences, and do the most good and least harm to people, animals, and the environment
Determine which solutions are most solutionary and most feasible for implementation
Draft a plan to implement your solution
Phase IV: Implement
Implement your solution
Assess and share your solution
Celebrate and iterate
Chapter 6: Solutions
Food Solutions
Population Solutions
Economic Solutions
Production Solutions
Political Solutions
Criminal Justice Solutions
Biomedical Research and Drug Testing Solutions
Education Solutions
Conclusion: The Solutionary Way Is Good for You
Notes
Appendix 1: The Solutionary Framework and Solutionary Scale
Appendix 2: The Five Key Questions
Appendix 3: The MOGO Questionnaire
Appendix 4: Chart of Problems, Impacts, and Local Manifestations
Acknowledgments
About the Institute for Humane Education
Index
About the Author
About New Society Publishers
About the Author :
Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), where she launched the Solutionary Way – a groundbreaking approach leveraging critical, systems, strategic, and creative thinking to create positive change. She created the first graduate program linking human rights, environmental sustainability, and animal protection, currently offered through Antioch University. A frequent speaker across the US and around the world, Zoe's acclaimed TEDx talk, The World Becomes What You Teach has been viewed nearly 150,000 times. She was named one of Maine Magazine's 50 independent leaders transforming their communities, and is the recipient of the Unity College Women in Environmental Leadership award. She holds masters' degrees from Harvard Divinity School and the University of Pennsylvania. Zoe blogs about Becoming a Solutionary for Psychology Today and is the author of seven books, including The World Becomes What We Teach, Most Good, Least Harm, and Above All, Be Kind. Zoe lives in Surry, Maine.
Review :
There are dire problems facing us, but a better world is possible if we become solutionaries
— Dr. Jane Goodall
From thoughtful personal stories of seemingly intractable problems to a wealth of tools that can help you develop your own solutionary skills, The Solutionary Way is filled with both extensive examples of the problems being addressed, along with potential solutions that can be implemented. Read this book. Become a solutionary.
— Shariff Abdullah, author, Creating a World that Works for All
In The Solutionary Way, Zoe Weil has woven an inspiring and wonderfully usable guide to living a virtuous and productive life in a fast-forward century that seems designed to confuse, paralyze, and divide. I particularly love her focus on progress-making as a practice and mindset, not gauged through a foreseen set of measurable outcomes. A lot of problems are posed when fitting upwards of 9 billion people on a finite planet, but if even a fraction of those humans become humane solutionaries, I see a bright future ahead.
— Andrew Revkin, New York Times environmental journalist, and co-author, The Human Planet: Earth at the Dawn of the Anthropocene
Some books give us what we want, and some give us what we need. The Solutionary Way gives us both: A path toward a more ethical, meaningful life and a process toward a future where everyone, human and nonhuman, can thrive.
— Moby, musician and activist
To address the sentient world’s biggest challenges, it’s not enough to inspire people. We’ve got to equip people. That means providing tools to build skills and the motivation to use those skills. Which is exactly what this book does. Practicing the solutionary way will benefit everybody— from you to your loved ones to our more-than-human roommates on this shared Earth.
— Irshad Manji, founder, Moral Courage College, and bestselling author, Don’t Label Me
As an antidote to the often siloed and quick-fix solutions offered to address the compounding crises plaguing Earth today, in The Solutionary Way Zoe Weil invites readers to slow down, step back, and look at the larger interwoven systems we’re caught in, and then to devise solutions that elevate the rights and wellbeing of the planet, people, and animals. Zoe offers a multitude of angles from which to diagnose problems so that we can minimize the unintended harmful consequences that may accompany our proposed solutions.
— Nandita Bajaj, M.Ed., executive director, Population Balance
If you are someone who sometimes feels despondent and even despairing about the state of our society and our world, this book is for you. In these times, many of us have felt hope for a peaceful and healthy future becoming increasingly remote. But this book showed me that even with all that is going so wrong in our world, it is far more possible than most of us think to take a life path that is clear, inspiring, practical—and leads us toward a world where all life can thrive.
— John Robbins, president, Food Revolution Network and author, Diet For A New America
Just as hope is a pipe dream without action, an equitable, sustainable future may be a pipe dream without this solutionary blueprint of Zoe Weil’s book.
— Robert Shetterly, founder, Americans Who Tell the Truth
I’ve spent decades working on behalf of people, animals, and the environment, and I’ve discovered that determining the best strategies is essential to having the biggest impact. This may sound obvious, but it can be challenging to find the most effective approaches that also align with your skillset and concerns. The Solutionary Way provides a framework for developing and pursuing solutions that lead to humane and sustainable systems that can endure. I give this book my highest recommendation.
— Bruce Friedrich, co-founder and president, Good Food Institute
Zoe Weil moves us to expand our compassion and challenges us to become what she calls solutionaries who can change the world. Through her words and example, she shares her many hopes and dreams for a more humane future that we can build together.
— Paul Chappell, executive director, Peace Literacy Institute
As a conservationist and documentary filmmaker, I’m always looking for strategic ways to address the grave challenges we face. I believe that if we embrace the solutionary process described in this book we will be on our way to building communities, nations, and a world where people, animals, and nature can thrive. Read this book for yourself and for our global future. Then put it into practice so we can build a healthy world together.
— Susan Rockefeller, artist and award-winning documentary filmmaker
The Solutionary Way is not just a vision for a more humane world but also offers a positive and practical guide for anyone to become an active contributor to positive change through evidence-based optimism and ethical problem-solving.
— Kiran Bir Sethi, founder, The Riverside School and Design for Change
