Jane Goodall – Making the World a Better Place

Since childhood, Jane Goodall has been one of my all-time superheroes. She did groundbreaking studies of chimps and changed our whole understanding of the animal kingdom. She pushed down traditional scientists’ concepts and showed us that great apes and other animals were sentient creatures. She continues to be an icon for me as she is also a UN Messenger of Peace.

Goodall has spent decades in the pursuit of knowledge and discovery with open-minded critical observations on how to look at the world and the impact of life on the land. She has spent a lifetime of advocacy for animal welfare. Goodall’s living legacy is focused on projects that surround community-led conservation, youth power, health, animal welfare, protecting forests, and science. 

Recently I was able to see Dr. Goodall in person on the Florida International University (FIU) campus at her Hope Through Action event sponsored by ZOO Miami. At eighty-nine years old, she still travels three hundred days a year to spread the message of making a better world for animals. In addition to telling the story of her past and the hope she sees for the future, Goodall says we all need to understand how we are part of the ecosystems we need to save. 

When introduced to the audience at FIU, Goodall was greeted with great applause and a standing ovation. She humbly told us she is two people; “I am just Jane talking now, a fellow human. There is another Jane, an icon created by media outlets around the world. I have a hard time keeping up with that icon. It is hard to stand up to that intro.” She says the reason she does not retire is because of the response she gets from people she speaks to.

Goodall thinks of herself not as a scientist but a storyteller. She told the audience that the way to influence people is not being a scientist with facts and figures. “What you must do is to get to the heart. And how do you get into the heart? With stories.”

Throughout the program, audience members were all treated to her storytelling as she described her life and African experiences. Standing at the podium with her stuffed animals, including a chimp, she recounted her best memory of how a mother chimpanzee let her precious newborn come touch her nose. Her worst memory was when a male chimp kept trying to assert his power position, hitting her head on the ground and making it bleed. As a child, she was given a stuffed animal chimpanzee that she loved and helped build her lifetime love of all creatures.

Goodall was born in England and grew up during World War II. From an early age, she loved animals; she said jokingly, “Ever since I jumped out of my mother’s womb.” She had nothing that would compete with her going out in nature as there was no tv or social media. Her mom wanted her to read, so she would give her nature books to entice her. Her favorite story was Dr. Dolittle and African animals.

Goodall did not come from a wealthy family and was raised by a single mother. She would save her money to go to a secondhand bookstore. One book she bought and treasured was Tarzan of the Apes. She fell in love with the lead character. She joked about how Tarzan ended up marrying the wrong Jane.

She got good grades in school but was unable to afford university, so she went to a secretarial school. One of her friends who moved to Kenya asked her to visit the farm she was living on. The boat she was traveling on to Kenya had to refuel in Cape Town. She was enamored with seeing Africans in native dress. Since this was during apartheid, she also saw the mistreatment of nonwhite people, which was very different from how she was raised. It upset her, and she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Kenya had a very different atmosphere. It was there that she took a secretarial job for Dr. Louis Leakey, the Curator of the National Museum. She had been very excited to be able to work for someone that could answer her many questions about nature. 

Goodall traveled with Dr. Leakey and his team to the Olduvai Gorge, where they searched for fossils. This was the place of her childhood dreams. She would go out at night after work and watch the animals and was amazed by them all. Dr. Leakey observed how Jane instinctively knew how to interact with animals. He was so impressed that he asked her to go to Tanzania to study apes. 

The first four months of studying apes were stressful for Goodall as all the chimps would run away from her. Her supportive mother, who accompanied Jane on the trip, told her that it was okay as she was learning about the animals and their behaviors, communication, and how they eat. In the fifth month, a chimp reached out and touched her. 

Goodall told us that chimps and humans share 98.7% of the same DNA. They use nonverbal communication skills such as kissing, shaking their fists, and holding hands. Goodall said that some of them even swagger, adding, “Don’t we all know some people like that today.” She saw bonds between mother and children. She saw them using tools thought to be only used by humans before her research. This was groundbreaking. Upon hearing this new finding, Dr.  Louis Leakey said, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man,’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.”

Goodall observed chimps for two years. The scientific community questioned her methodology as she had given the subjects names and described unique personalities and emotions to each individual. This was not how animals were seen at that time. 

Dr. Leakey thought Goodall should get some credentials. Even though she did not have an undergraduate degree, she was enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Cambridge University. While studying, she did research in a rainforest, which she thought was magical, and she learned about the interconnectivity of every plant and animal. She said she felt a strong spiritual connection to the world.

Studying with apes in Tanzania had changed Goodall. She said she went as a scientist and became a conservationist. After her studies, she visited labs. It upset her to see animals she knew could feel pain and fear locked up while medical tests were being done on them. She heard about how hunting groups in Africa murdered and cooked older individuals as bushmeat when out capturing young apes for the entertainment industry or animal trade. She remains a great advocate of these animals and most recently visited the Center for Great Apes to see chimps and orangutans rescued from abuse.

Goodall tried to educate poor villagers about why they shouldn’t hunt these animals. She would give them food, health aid, education, and ways out of poverty. People started to understand that by protecting the environment, they not only help animals but all of us. At the lecture, she reminded us that we must all conserve what biodiversity is left on the planet.

The mission of the Jane Goodall Institute is to inspire action around the world to protect great apes and vital ecosystems. Founded in 1977, this global community-centered conservation organization advances her vision and work. The institute’s philosophy is that by understanding, protecting and improving the welfare of chimpanzees and other great apes, while inspiring action to conserve the natural world we all share, we improve the lives of people, other animals and the environment. 

She also feels that depression in young people needs to be addressed. To combat youth depression, she started Roots and Shoots in 1991. The program teaches compassion and respect for everyone, including animals and the environment. She believes there is hope because young people have energy and commitment once they become aware of problems. Roots and Shoots is now in eighty-six countries for kids from kindergarten through university levels.

Goodall believes there is a window in time, if we all get together, where we can do important things. If we can slow down climate change and limit threats to the loss of biodiversity, there is hope. “We cannot ignore the Earth around us,” Goodall said. “It feeds us, shelters us, replenishes our bodies and souls, and stretches our imaginations, where animals, plants, air, and water all care for us. We are all interconnected - people, animals, our environment.”

 “I do believe in the possibility of a world where we can live in harmony with nature,” Goodall said, “but only if every one of us does our part to make that world a reality - so that when you look back over your life, you can truly say, I did make a difference.”

“We have the choice to use the gift of our lives to make the world a better place.”

For more information on the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots and Shoots, or to make a donation, go to www.janegoodall.org.