October 1, 2025 • 8 mins
We were lucky enough to chat to the incredible Dr Jane Goodall.
Rest in Peace, Jane.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation absolute privilege to talk to
our next guest. My teenage diary is filled with stories
about her and her incredible adventures. She's the celebrated conservationist
whose groundbreaking research of chimpanzees over sixty years ago changed
the course of science. In her latest project, The Book
of Hope, she has a call to action for us
(00:21):
all to quote, use the gift of our lives to
make this a better world. Doctor Jane Goodall, Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, hello there, and I hope you're feeling really good.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well looking at you and talking to you absolutely, your
story just inspired me when I was a younger woman.
You were such a young woman when you headed off
to Tanzania to study the chimpanzees that you had such
crude living arrangements. Was it bravery or naivete? What was
it that propelled you to take that journey?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, what compelled me was that when I was ten
years old living, I'm speaking you from the house where
I grew up, where I have been since COVID. COVID
prevented me from traveling, and I was here and I
read the book about Tarzan doctor Doolittle, and I decided
I would grow up go to Africa, live with wild
(01:16):
animals and write books about them. There was no idea
of being a scientist. So anyway, eventually I got there.
I saved up money, met Louis Leaky, and amazingly he
gave me this opportunity to go and live with and
learn from not just any animal, but chimpanzees, our closest
living relatives. What an amazing journey that was.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And you've known chimpanzees for a long time in your life,
and how much do they differ from us?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, if you look at their DNA, they differ only
by just over one percent. There are closest living relatives
and their non verbal communication, kissing, embracing, holding hands, patting
one another, swaggering and shaking the fist, using tools, using
(02:11):
rocks as weapons, waging a kind of primitive war between
neighboring communities, but also showing love, compassion, and altruism. That's
how like us they are. But what you learn from
that is goodness. But we're different. I mean, you know
we're talking you in Australia, I mean in the UK
(02:34):
we're talking. That's pretty amazing. If you were like me
growing up before any of this began I didn't even
have television, and so you know, what I've learned from
all of this is that we're a pretty amazing species
and it's pretty sad that we're destroying our planet, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Your book is all about hope, and I know at
the moment it feels for many of us slightly hopeless.
How do we how do we turn that around?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, you know, so many people are hopeless. This is
why I began our youth program back in nineteen ninety one,
because so many young people high school, university had lost hope.
And when I talked to them, they were apathetic, didn't
seem to care, or they were angry, or they were depressed.
And they said to me basically the same thing in
(03:31):
different continents. We feel like this because you've compromised our future,
which we have right But they said, there's nothing we
can do about it. And that's where I said, you're wrong.
There is something. We still have a window of time.
If we get together, if we take action, each one
of us, then we can make a difference. And so
(03:53):
that's when our Roots and Shoots program began. That's when
I know everything that I believe in was caused by
this moment of is it too late, No, it's not,
but we have to get together and take action enough.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Optimistically, are things getting better? Climate wise?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Awareness is getting better, much much better. People are much
more aware, More people are prepared to fight for the future,
fight for the environment. And I think perhaps the most
important thing is that young people all around the world
are rising up and saying we want a better future.
(04:36):
We are going to demand change from governments, from big business.
That's what I see as one of my reasons for hope,
the young people who are so dedicated, passionate and determined
to make a difference.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Do you still have an opportunity to interact with chimpanzees?
I know their different personalities spoke to you through all
those years, and you made free ships with them. Are
you still in contact with a colony of chimps?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, we still the Jinglele Institute still works with the
same community. The original ones that I knew so well
are all gone, except one gremlin, who's now the dominant
female of the entire community. But all the others that
I knew so well are no longer with us. They
(05:27):
do live sixty years and they teach us so much
about what it is that we share, but ways in
which we're different. Before the before the pandemic, when I
was confined to where you see me now, up in
my house where I grew up as a child, and
(05:50):
before that, I was traveling three hundred days a year
around the world, but that included two visits to Gombe
to visit I usually didn't actually see the chimps. Sometimes
I did, but at least to you know, inspire the people,
the scientists, the students, field staff working there.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
And the same did you get to catch up with
the chimps on a zoom catch up like we're doing now?
Did someone set that up for you?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Like?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Can you can that happen? Is that technology? And second
part of this question, if that happened, would they recognize you?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well? As I say, there's only one left who would
recognize me, because when I left Gombia in nineteen eighty
six to try and raise awareness about what was happening
around the planet, all the you know today, all the
old individuals who I knew so well, like members of
my family, they're no longer with us. The one chimpanzee, Grumlin,
(06:54):
who I remember so well, she recognizes me when I
go back, absolutely but the others I no longer have
any contact with them, but just going.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And you don't get on with her though, that chimp?
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, every time I go and actually see her, she
comes quite close, sets looks into my eyes, and moves away.
She knows who I am.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Would she recognize you on a zoom? Do they have
that ability?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They actually do, But we've never tried to do anything
like that. You know, these tips are wild and free
and we don't experiment with them. But yes, chimpanzees can
recognize people and individual chimps on a zoom.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
That's good. And they can't throw the feces at you either,
that's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
The book is called The Book of Hope, a Survival
Guide for trying Times. It's available now. What an honor
to speak to you, Jane. Thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Well, thank you. And you know we do need hope,
don't we, Because if we don't have hope, we we
we sort of give up and do nothing and fall
into apathy. That's the end of our species. If we
do that, we must have hope to take action to
change the world before it's too late.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Thank you about doctor Jangodo thank you for joy
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Thanks you, thank you so much, Bye bye,
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation absolute privilege to talk to
our next guest. My teenage diary is filled with stories
about her and her incredible adventures. She's the celebrated conservationist
whose groundbreaking research of chimpanzees over sixty years ago changed
the course of science. In her latest project, The Book
of Hope, she has a call to action for us
(00:21):
all to quote, use the gift of our lives to
make this a better world. Doctor Jane Goodall, Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, hello there, and I hope you're feeling really good.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well looking at you and talking to you absolutely, your
story just inspired me when I was a younger woman.
You were such a young woman when you headed off
to Tanzania to study the chimpanzees that you had such
crude living arrangements. Was it bravery or naivete? What was
it that propelled you to take that journey?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, what compelled me was that when I was ten
years old living, I'm speaking you from the house where
I grew up, where I have been since COVID. COVID
prevented me from traveling, and I was here and I
read the book about Tarzan doctor Doolittle, and I decided
I would grow up go to Africa, live with wild
(01:16):
animals and write books about them. There was no idea
of being a scientist. So anyway, eventually I got there.
I saved up money, met Louis Leaky, and amazingly he
gave me this opportunity to go and live with and
learn from not just any animal, but chimpanzees, our closest
living relatives. What an amazing journey that was.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And you've known chimpanzees for a long time in your life,
and how much do they differ from us?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, if you look at their DNA, they differ only
by just over one percent. There are closest living relatives
and their non verbal communication, kissing, embracing, holding hands, patting
one another, swaggering and shaking the fist, using tools, using
(02:11):
rocks as weapons, waging a kind of primitive war between
neighboring communities, but also showing love, compassion, and altruism. That's
how like us they are. But what you learn from
that is goodness. But we're different. I mean, you know
we're talking you in Australia, I mean in the UK
(02:34):
we're talking. That's pretty amazing. If you were like me
growing up before any of this began I didn't even
have television, and so you know, what I've learned from
all of this is that we're a pretty amazing species
and it's pretty sad that we're destroying our planet, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Your book is all about hope, and I know at
the moment it feels for many of us slightly hopeless.
How do we how do we turn that around?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, you know, so many people are hopeless. This is
why I began our youth program back in nineteen ninety one,
because so many young people high school, university had lost hope.
And when I talked to them, they were apathetic, didn't
seem to care, or they were angry, or they were depressed.
And they said to me basically the same thing in
(03:31):
different continents. We feel like this because you've compromised our future,
which we have right But they said, there's nothing we
can do about it. And that's where I said, you're wrong.
There is something. We still have a window of time.
If we get together, if we take action, each one
of us, then we can make a difference. And so
(03:53):
that's when our Roots and Shoots program began. That's when
I know everything that I believe in was caused by
this moment of is it too late, No, it's not,
but we have to get together and take action enough.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Optimistically, are things getting better? Climate wise?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Awareness is getting better, much much better. People are much
more aware, More people are prepared to fight for the future,
fight for the environment. And I think perhaps the most
important thing is that young people all around the world
are rising up and saying we want a better future.
(04:36):
We are going to demand change from governments, from big business.
That's what I see as one of my reasons for hope,
the young people who are so dedicated, passionate and determined
to make a difference.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Do you still have an opportunity to interact with chimpanzees?
I know their different personalities spoke to you through all
those years, and you made free ships with them. Are
you still in contact with a colony of chimps?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, we still the Jinglele Institute still works with the
same community. The original ones that I knew so well
are all gone, except one gremlin, who's now the dominant
female of the entire community. But all the others that
I knew so well are no longer with us. They
(05:27):
do live sixty years and they teach us so much
about what it is that we share, but ways in
which we're different. Before the before the pandemic, when I
was confined to where you see me now, up in
my house where I grew up as a child, and
(05:50):
before that, I was traveling three hundred days a year
around the world, but that included two visits to Gombe
to visit I usually didn't actually see the chimps. Sometimes
I did, but at least to you know, inspire the people,
the scientists, the students, field staff working there.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
And the same did you get to catch up with
the chimps on a zoom catch up like we're doing now?
Did someone set that up for you?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Like?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Can you can that happen? Is that technology? And second
part of this question, if that happened, would they recognize you?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well? As I say, there's only one left who would
recognize me, because when I left Gombia in nineteen eighty
six to try and raise awareness about what was happening
around the planet, all the you know today, all the
old individuals who I knew so well, like members of
my family, they're no longer with us. The one chimpanzee, Grumlin,
(06:54):
who I remember so well, she recognizes me when I
go back, absolutely but the others I no longer have
any contact with them, but just going.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And you don't get on with her though, that chimp?
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, every time I go and actually see her, she
comes quite close, sets looks into my eyes, and moves away.
She knows who I am.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Would she recognize you on a zoom? Do they have
that ability?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
They actually do, But we've never tried to do anything
like that. You know, these tips are wild and free
and we don't experiment with them. But yes, chimpanzees can
recognize people and individual chimps on a zoom.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
That's good. And they can't throw the feces at you either,
that's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
The book is called The Book of Hope, a Survival
Guide for trying Times. It's available now. What an honor
to speak to you, Jane. Thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Well, thank you. And you know we do need hope,
don't we, Because if we don't have hope, we we
we sort of give up and do nothing and fall
into apathy. That's the end of our species. If we
do that, we must have hope to take action to
change the world before it's too late.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Thank you about doctor Jangodo thank you for joy
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Thanks you, thank you so much, Bye bye,
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