February 15, 2025 • 20 mins
Dr. Jane Goodall is emblematic of the Power of Significance.
In a quiet English town called Bournemouth, a young girl named Jane found her passion for animals both in books and in the backyard. At the age of five when visiting family friends. Jane Goodall hid in a hen house to learn about chickens and how they laid their eggs. Fast forward to 1960. A determined Jane arrived at the Gombe in western Tanzania with nothing but a notebook, binoculars, and an unshakable belief that she could unravel the mysteries of the animal kingdom. You see, at that time, women didn’t venture into the jungles of Africa to study wild animals. But Jane wasn’t just any woman. She sat. And she watched. Day after day. Month after month. Her patience and persistence paid off when she made a discovery that would upend everything we thought we knew about our closest relatives: chimpanzees made and used tools. For years, humanity had clung to the belief that tool-making was the exclusive domain of human animals. But there they were—chimpanzees, stripping leaves from twigs to fish termites from mounds. Jane proved what many scientists refused to believe—chimpanzees were more like us than we ever dared to imagine. Her work didn’t stop with the science. She gave her chimpanzees names—David Greybeard, Flo, and Fifi—because to Jane, they weren’t just subjects of research. They were individuals with emotions, relationships, and personalities. A radical notion at the time, but one that made the world take a second look at its kinship with the animal kingdom. Then the story takes a different turn. In 1986 Jane saw the forests where her chimpanzees lived begin to disappear. She saw communities struggling in poverty, forced to encroach on habitats just to survive. She realized that if she wanted to save the chimps, she’d have to save the people, too. And so, Jane Goodall became more than a scientist. She became a conservationist. In 1991, launched Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, a program to empower young people of all ages to become involved in hands-on projects of their choosing to benefit the community, animals (including domestic animals) and the environment. Roots & Shoots is now active in more than 75 countries One of its shining moments came in Flint, Michigan, during the water crisis. A group of students took action, distributing clean water and planting community gardens. Their efforts gave their neighbors hope—and reminded us all of the power of young minds to change the world. Then followed the TACARE project and Dr. Jane and the Jane Goodall Institute launched initiatives that helped local communities adopt sustainable practices—like agroforestry and clean water programs—that not only lifted people out of poverty but allowed them to become partners in conserving their heritage and also preserved the forests her beloved chimps called home. One village at a time, one program at a time, Jane showed the world that conservation isn’t just about saving animals. It’s about saving ourselves.
Today, Dr. Jane Goodall is a household name. She’s traveled millions of miles, spoken to millions of people, and inspired countless individuals to join her crusade for a better planet. She’s been knighted, honored with awards, and was appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan as a UN Messenger of Peace. But she’ll tell you her most significant accomplishment isn’t a title or a trophy. It’s the spark she’s ignited in others—a spark of hope, of empathy, of responsibility. And so, Jane Goodall’s story isn’t just about chimps or science or even conservation. It’s about the courage to follow your curiosity, the humility to recognize the interconnectedness of all life, and the determination to leave the world a better place than you found it.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/legends-extraordinary-lives--5351541/support.
In a quiet English town called Bournemouth, a young girl named Jane found her passion for animals both in books and in the backyard. At the age of five when visiting family friends. Jane Goodall hid in a hen house to learn about chickens and how they laid their eggs. Fast forward to 1960. A determined Jane arrived at the Gombe in western Tanzania with nothing but a notebook, binoculars, and an unshakable belief that she could unravel the mysteries of the animal kingdom. You see, at that time, women didn’t venture into the jungles of Africa to study wild animals. But Jane wasn’t just any woman. She sat. And she watched. Day after day. Month after month. Her patience and persistence paid off when she made a discovery that would upend everything we thought we knew about our closest relatives: chimpanzees made and used tools. For years, humanity had clung to the belief that tool-making was the exclusive domain of human animals. But there they were—chimpanzees, stripping leaves from twigs to fish termites from mounds. Jane proved what many scientists refused to believe—chimpanzees were more like us than we ever dared to imagine. Her work didn’t stop with the science. She gave her chimpanzees names—David Greybeard, Flo, and Fifi—because to Jane, they weren’t just subjects of research. They were individuals with emotions, relationships, and personalities. A radical notion at the time, but one that made the world take a second look at its kinship with the animal kingdom. Then the story takes a different turn. In 1986 Jane saw the forests where her chimpanzees lived begin to disappear. She saw communities struggling in poverty, forced to encroach on habitats just to survive. She realized that if she wanted to save the chimps, she’d have to save the people, too. And so, Jane Goodall became more than a scientist. She became a conservationist. In 1991, launched Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, a program to empower young people of all ages to become involved in hands-on projects of their choosing to benefit the community, animals (including domestic animals) and the environment. Roots & Shoots is now active in more than 75 countries One of its shining moments came in Flint, Michigan, during the water crisis. A group of students took action, distributing clean water and planting community gardens. Their efforts gave their neighbors hope—and reminded us all of the power of young minds to change the world. Then followed the TACARE project and Dr. Jane and the Jane Goodall Institute launched initiatives that helped local communities adopt sustainable practices—like agroforestry and clean water programs—that not only lifted people out of poverty but allowed them to become partners in conserving their heritage and also preserved the forests her beloved chimps called home. One village at a time, one program at a time, Jane showed the world that conservation isn’t just about saving animals. It’s about saving ourselves.
Today, Dr. Jane Goodall is a household name. She’s traveled millions of miles, spoken to millions of people, and inspired countless individuals to join her crusade for a better planet. She’s been knighted, honored with awards, and was appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan as a UN Messenger of Peace. But she’ll tell you her most significant accomplishment isn’t a title or a trophy. It’s the spark she’s ignited in others—a spark of hope, of empathy, of responsibility. And so, Jane Goodall’s story isn’t just about chimps or science or even conservation. It’s about the courage to follow your curiosity, the humility to recognize the interconnectedness of all life, and the determination to leave the world a better place than you found it.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/legends-extraordinary-lives--5351541/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm Rick Tulchinni and this is success to Significance and
we are honoring doctor Jane Goodall on this show courtesy
of an interview that mister Tim Love, one of my
mentors in life, did with Jane several years ago. It
was on his award winning Discovering Truth series and he
(00:33):
also has an associated book, Discovering Truth how to navigate
between fact and fiction in an overwhelming social media world.
When you hear the sections that we're going to play
for you today from doctor Goodall, there are broken down
into two primary ones. The first one is about four
major problems which are truths in this world, and then
(00:57):
the second one is four reasons to be Hopeful that
one of the most significant people that we have ever
broadcast and this was again done in conjunction with Tim
and Doctor Goodall is an ethologist, founder of the Jane
Goodall Institute. She's the United Nations Messenger of Peace and
(01:19):
Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
What she did after being going to the University of
Camberzough I think is the most important thing in co
founding the Institute for Wildlife Research. She created these new
community centered ways of looking at conservation. She founded Roots
(01:42):
and Shoots humanitarian and environmental program for young people of
all ages to empower them to choose and become involved
in hands on programs for people, animals, and the environment.
She's simply fascinating, almost out of this world visionary futurist
(02:03):
because of what she's experienced, and she's truly taken her
wisdom and life experiences forward to change the lives of
others and of the world itself. So here are these
segments from doctor Jane Goodall. We hope that you enjoy
them and listen carefully to her wisdom.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Jane, could you please share with us the truths you
see about our planet and living in harmony with people,
animals and the environment.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, you know, I have indeed lived on this planet
for eighty six years and I've seen massive change and
almost everything. I mean, when I was growing up, there
wasn't television, there wasn't laptops. I mean, you know, a pencil,
paper and books, which is when my passion for going
to Africa began because I read the story of Doctor
(02:58):
Doolittle and the Apes, and I dreamed that I grow
up go to Africa. Live with wild animals and write
books about them. Everybody laughed. World War II was raging
arm I was just a girl, didn't have any money.
But my mother said, if you really want to do this,
then you have to work extremely hard, have to take
(03:19):
advantage of every opportunity. But above all, if you don't
give up, you may find a way. So that's you know.
I always want to recognize the importance of supporting your
child in what that child wants to do. Tend to
want it'll change, But mine didn't. And yes, I got
to gombe. And it was while I was out in
(03:39):
the rainforest on my own that I really came to
understand how all living things are interconnected, and how every
species has a role to play, no matter how small
and insignificant. And the loss of one species can have
a ripple effect because that may have been in the
(04:00):
main food source of another species and so on, and
it can actually lead to ecosystem collapse. And so during
these years that I've been on the planet, I've seen
so much destruction, so many rainforest is destroyed, so much pollution,
pollution of the water, the air, on the land, pollution
(04:21):
of the soil with chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and so on,
and so much suffering. And as I first of all
began to learn about the chimpanzees and how close they
are to us and their behavior, and of course they
share eighty six point two percent of their DNA with us.
(04:44):
And when I've been in the field two years, I
had never been to college. We couldn't afford it. And
when I got there, I was horrified to be told
I should have given the chimpanzees numbers, not names, and
I couldn't talk about them having personalities, minds capable of
(05:06):
solving problems, and certainly not emotions like happiness, sadness, fear
and so on. But when I was a child, I
had a wonderful teacher, and he taught me that indeed,
animals do have personalities, minds, and feelings, and we're not
separate from the animal kingdom. We're part of it. That
(05:29):
teacher was my dog. And of course, if you share
your life in a meaningful way with an animal, you
know that we're not the only beings with personality, mind
and emotion. So I was able to stand up to
the professors I learned at Cambridge how to sort out
what I believed and put it in a scientific form,
(05:49):
and I got my PhD that Lewis Leakey had insisted
I get and went back to Gombie and went on learning.
And I think that that because chimps are so like us,
because the geographics and out of photographer Hugo van Louk
and his film documented all these things that at first
(06:13):
a lot of scientists said, well, why should we believe
this young girl? Tool using and tool making have been
supposed to be unique to humans. And he documented the
emotions of the chimpanzees, the grief shown by a mother
and her child.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Life an emotional thing to learn and experience.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yes, well, I think because of that it opened up
this reductionist way of thinking. So today scientists are actually
studying animal mind, emotion and personality. And we know now
the intelligence of animals is so much greater than was
thought when I went to Cambridge. You know, we know
(06:54):
about the intelligent of elephants and whales, and well so
many different animals, mice and rats. Rats are incredibly intelligent
peaks as well, and so we know that birds are
amazingly intelligent, the octopus unbelievable what they can do. And
(07:17):
so it's a whole new way of thinking about animals,
which the chimpanzees helped me to put through to science,
and I think that was the first major accomplishment of
my life. But then of course wanting to help protect
the chimpanzees and the forests where they live, and learning
more and more about our destruction of the natural world,
(07:41):
which is why in nineteen eighty six I left Gombie
and started traveling around and talking to people about what
was going on, at the same time learning more and
more about what we were doing to the planet in
the developed world. Doing all of this, learning more and
(08:03):
more about the destruction in Africa, it was pretty grim
and at a conference where we talked about the environmental situation,
the habitat destruction of the gymps, and the ways in
which sometimes they are treated in captive situations, especially back
then it was medical research, and I left that conference
(08:27):
completely changed. I was an activist. I had to try
and do something and so during that time, and if
I summarize it now all these years later, there are
four major problems, which are truths in this world that
we somehow have to solve, no matter how difficult that
may seem. And first of all, poverty alleviation, because if
(08:52):
you're really poor, you're going to cut down the last
tree because you're desperate to grow more food to feed
your family, going to cut down the forest as your
population expands because you need more land for you and
your cattle. And the second problem is the unsustainable lifestyles
of so many, many, hundreds and millions of people on
(09:15):
this planet. We have more than we need. So many
people don't think about what they're doing, They don't think
about what they buy. Do they really need it? Is
it harming the environment to produce it? Did it need
animal suffering? Did it was it? Is it cheap because
(09:37):
of child slave labor? And so our unsustainable lifestyle can
be changed once we get a sufficient volume of people
to make those changes. And then the third problem. Today
it's estimated at seven point two billion people on the planet,
and already we're using up natural resources faster in some
(09:58):
places the nature can plenish them. And it's estimated in
twenty fifty there will be nine point seven billion people
on the planet. So what's going to happen. I'm not
going to even try to answer that, except to remind
people that one child in an affluent society will use
(10:21):
sometimes as much as ten percent more of the natural
resources than a child growing up in poverty in Asia
or Africa. And then, of course the final thing that
we have to solve is corruption. It's rife everywhere. And
until we've tried to solve these four problems, which are
(10:45):
true all of them, then if we don't, then if
we carry on with business as usual, it's going to
be the end of us. We need the natural environment,
we depend on it, clean air and water.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And so.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That's why I started Roots and Shoots, our program for
young people, because I found they were losing hope, they
were angry, they were depressed, or they were just apathetic.
And yes, they told me, well, you've compromised our future
and there's nothing we can do about it. We've actually
been stealing their future. We still are, but there is
(11:26):
something that can be done. And Roots and Shoots is
about taking action. The Djangodal Institute is about taking action.
We try to alleviate poverty in seven different African countries
around Chimpanzee habitat, find help them to find alternative ways
of living without destroying the environment. And the Roots and
(11:47):
Shoots groups now in sixty five countries, kindergarten, university, everything
in between. Hundreds and thousands of groups, and each group
chooses three projects to make the world better of a
p people, animals, for the environment. Because everything is interconnected.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You've had a front row seat watching the natural world
changes you just articulated, and watching humankind demolish and then
rebuild entire ecosystems. What is the source of your optimism
today and how are you keeping this message vital during
this time of travel, restrictions and isolation.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, I've got.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Four reasons for hope, and the first one is that
youth program.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I talk to persons.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Yeah, when young people know the problem and we listen
to them and empower them to take action. What they're
doing now they are as we speak. There are groups
saving the world. Although it's pretty hard for most of
them when they're lockdown to do well, they to do so.
Hopefully one day they'll be able to go back to
doing things in group, because that's what gives them, you know, energy.
(13:03):
The second reason for hope is the resilience of nature.
It's unbelievable places we have destroyed can once again become
green and support life. And I see so many examples
of that. As I'm going around the world, so many
people I meet who are just doing incredible things and
restoring ecosystems and restoring forests and protecting forests and giving
(13:28):
animals on the brink of extinction and other chance. You know,
I've got so many stories about all those things, and
then this brain. The problem is with us today is
there seems to be a disconnect between this unbelievable intellect
that we have and the heart human love and compassion.
(13:50):
And I truly think that unless head and heart work
in harmony, will never attain our true human potential. Because
you know, think of what scientists have done amazing things,
sending a rocket up to the moon to Mars with
a robot taking photographs. We know we can't live there,
(14:13):
So how is the most intellectual species ever destroying its
only home because this disconnect between head and heart. Oh,
my final reason for hope is what I call the
indomitable human spirit, the people who tackle what seems impossible
(14:34):
and won't give up. So you know, there's even a
silver lining with this COVID nineteen pandemic, and that is
that more people are aware of the fact that it's
our destruction of the natural world. That's in our disrespect
(14:54):
of animals that's actually led to this pandemic. It was predicted,
It's been predicted the soil long and certainly some of
these epidemics and pandemics have come from very cruel treatment
of animals as well as destruction of the of the
natural world. So if you cut down a lot of forests,
(15:15):
a lot of animals come closer together who wouldn't have
been in contact before. That enables a virus or a
bacteria to spill over into another species where it's different.
And then animals that pushed into closer contact with people
and these viruses, I think the ones that jump over
(15:36):
from an old traditional host into a new animal. Maybe
they're more active, I don't know, not to virologists, but anyway,
and jump over. But then in addition, wild animals, we
hunt them, kill them, eat them, traffic them, sell them
off to these wild animal meat markets in Asia, the
(15:57):
bush meat markets in Africa, and these create perfect environments
for the viruses and bacteria to spill over as that
they have it's been shown. And then finally those are
terribly cruel and totally awful and shameful factory farms where
(16:17):
billions of animals are now crammed together in often unsanitary conditions.
That too, has led in several cases to epidemics. Yes,
the virus has spilled over, and it's.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Not just in a third world country.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
It's in the United States where these farms exist too.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yes, everywhere. And in fact, it was one farm and
I think it was Iowa that led to one of
these epidemics. It was from cattle, and another one in
factory farm pigs in Asia. So you know, we're just
there's a cruel streak in US. And it all ties
into what I was saying. Animals have their sentient They're
(17:00):
not just things put here for us to use and abuse.
And people talk about a factory farm and the cruelty
to pigs. I think it's not cruelty to billions of pigs.
Each pig has a life, Each pig has feelings and
can feel fear and distress. And it's the individuals in
(17:21):
all of these situations. It's so easy to think of
a mass of animal and a mass of humanity, but
we're all made up of individuals with our own our
own will to live to tell. Butch fights.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I saw something in the news yesterday.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
That the air pollution index is improved by seventeen percent
with this pandemic, And at least it's sad. It brings
to reality a lot of things that we might have doubted.
Just in that short time we're seeing an improvement.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, I think you know the one. Of course, there's
leaders around the planet. I won't mention names, but there
are certain leaders itching to get back to business as
usual and start up the economy, and in fact even
probably too soon. And you know, China's opened up coal mines.
(18:23):
President Trump wants to go into coal energy. Volsonaro wants
to chop down forests all for economic development. So again
and again, economic development is put ahead protecting the environment
for the future. And I say it again. We need
the natural environment. We depend on it for clean air,
(18:45):
clean water, food and all the rest of it. And spiritually,
something about nature that we need for our spirit. And
so my hope again is that there'll be enough billions
of people, well certainly millions from the big cities who
probably never before had the luxury of breathing clean air
(19:08):
right up and seeing stars bright in a night sky.
And although right now we're the kind of leaders we
have with the swing to the far right. Maybe this
won't make They won't be able to make too much difference.
Although I think millions and millions of people won't change,
I hear it everywhere. But my hope is that the
(19:30):
groundswell will grow and grow, and parents will tell their children,
until there's a force of people that first of all,
make a difference by not buying products from companies that
are harming the environment, consumer pressure, and enough pressure that
governments will have to change.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We hope that you enjoyed this special Success Is Significance
program with doctor Jane Goodall. Again thanks to our friend
Tim Love for allowing us to play these segments from
his Discovering Truth series, and we hope that you also
(20:11):
can find your way to significance. While you're busy in
your chase for success, consider what you can do to
make a difference in this world. Every weekd
I'm Rick Tulchinni and this is success to Significance and
we are honoring doctor Jane Goodall on this show courtesy
of an interview that mister Tim Love, one of my
mentors in life, did with Jane several years ago. It
was on his award winning Discovering Truth series and he
(00:33):
also has an associated book, Discovering Truth how to navigate
between fact and fiction in an overwhelming social media world.
When you hear the sections that we're going to play
for you today from doctor Goodall, there are broken down
into two primary ones. The first one is about four
major problems which are truths in this world, and then
(00:57):
the second one is four reasons to be Hopeful that
one of the most significant people that we have ever
broadcast and this was again done in conjunction with Tim
and Doctor Goodall is an ethologist, founder of the Jane
Goodall Institute. She's the United Nations Messenger of Peace and
(01:19):
Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
What she did after being going to the University of
Camberzough I think is the most important thing in co
founding the Institute for Wildlife Research. She created these new
community centered ways of looking at conservation. She founded Roots
(01:42):
and Shoots humanitarian and environmental program for young people of
all ages to empower them to choose and become involved
in hands on programs for people, animals, and the environment.
She's simply fascinating, almost out of this world visionary futurist
(02:03):
because of what she's experienced, and she's truly taken her
wisdom and life experiences forward to change the lives of
others and of the world itself. So here are these
segments from doctor Jane Goodall. We hope that you enjoy
them and listen carefully to her wisdom.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Jane, could you please share with us the truths you
see about our planet and living in harmony with people,
animals and the environment.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, you know, I have indeed lived on this planet
for eighty six years and I've seen massive change and
almost everything. I mean, when I was growing up, there
wasn't television, there wasn't laptops. I mean, you know, a pencil,
paper and books, which is when my passion for going
to Africa began because I read the story of Doctor
(02:58):
Doolittle and the Apes, and I dreamed that I grow
up go to Africa. Live with wild animals and write
books about them. Everybody laughed. World War II was raging
arm I was just a girl, didn't have any money.
But my mother said, if you really want to do this,
then you have to work extremely hard, have to take
(03:19):
advantage of every opportunity. But above all, if you don't
give up, you may find a way. So that's you know.
I always want to recognize the importance of supporting your
child in what that child wants to do. Tend to
want it'll change, But mine didn't. And yes, I got
to gombe. And it was while I was out in
(03:39):
the rainforest on my own that I really came to
understand how all living things are interconnected, and how every
species has a role to play, no matter how small
and insignificant. And the loss of one species can have
a ripple effect because that may have been in the
(04:00):
main food source of another species and so on, and
it can actually lead to ecosystem collapse. And so during
these years that I've been on the planet, I've seen
so much destruction, so many rainforest is destroyed, so much pollution,
pollution of the water, the air, on the land, pollution
(04:21):
of the soil with chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and so on,
and so much suffering. And as I first of all
began to learn about the chimpanzees and how close they
are to us and their behavior, and of course they
share eighty six point two percent of their DNA with us.
(04:44):
And when I've been in the field two years, I
had never been to college. We couldn't afford it. And
when I got there, I was horrified to be told
I should have given the chimpanzees numbers, not names, and
I couldn't talk about them having personalities, minds capable of
(05:06):
solving problems, and certainly not emotions like happiness, sadness, fear
and so on. But when I was a child, I
had a wonderful teacher, and he taught me that indeed,
animals do have personalities, minds, and feelings, and we're not
separate from the animal kingdom. We're part of it. That
(05:29):
teacher was my dog. And of course, if you share
your life in a meaningful way with an animal, you
know that we're not the only beings with personality, mind
and emotion. So I was able to stand up to
the professors I learned at Cambridge how to sort out
what I believed and put it in a scientific form,
(05:49):
and I got my PhD that Lewis Leakey had insisted
I get and went back to Gombie and went on learning.
And I think that that because chimps are so like us,
because the geographics and out of photographer Hugo van Louk
and his film documented all these things that at first
(06:13):
a lot of scientists said, well, why should we believe
this young girl? Tool using and tool making have been
supposed to be unique to humans. And he documented the
emotions of the chimpanzees, the grief shown by a mother
and her child.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Life an emotional thing to learn and experience.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yes, well, I think because of that it opened up
this reductionist way of thinking. So today scientists are actually
studying animal mind, emotion and personality. And we know now
the intelligence of animals is so much greater than was
thought when I went to Cambridge. You know, we know
(06:54):
about the intelligent of elephants and whales, and well so
many different animals, mice and rats. Rats are incredibly intelligent
peaks as well, and so we know that birds are
amazingly intelligent, the octopus unbelievable what they can do. And
(07:17):
so it's a whole new way of thinking about animals,
which the chimpanzees helped me to put through to science,
and I think that was the first major accomplishment of
my life. But then of course wanting to help protect
the chimpanzees and the forests where they live, and learning
more and more about our destruction of the natural world,
(07:41):
which is why in nineteen eighty six I left Gombie
and started traveling around and talking to people about what
was going on, at the same time learning more and
more about what we were doing to the planet in
the developed world. Doing all of this, learning more and
(08:03):
more about the destruction in Africa, it was pretty grim
and at a conference where we talked about the environmental situation,
the habitat destruction of the gymps, and the ways in
which sometimes they are treated in captive situations, especially back
then it was medical research, and I left that conference
(08:27):
completely changed. I was an activist. I had to try
and do something and so during that time, and if
I summarize it now all these years later, there are
four major problems, which are truths in this world that
we somehow have to solve, no matter how difficult that
may seem. And first of all, poverty alleviation, because if
(08:52):
you're really poor, you're going to cut down the last
tree because you're desperate to grow more food to feed
your family, going to cut down the forest as your
population expands because you need more land for you and
your cattle. And the second problem is the unsustainable lifestyles
of so many, many, hundreds and millions of people on
(09:15):
this planet. We have more than we need. So many
people don't think about what they're doing, They don't think
about what they buy. Do they really need it? Is
it harming the environment to produce it? Did it need
animal suffering? Did it was it? Is it cheap because
(09:37):
of child slave labor? And so our unsustainable lifestyle can
be changed once we get a sufficient volume of people
to make those changes. And then the third problem. Today
it's estimated at seven point two billion people on the planet,
and already we're using up natural resources faster in some
(09:58):
places the nature can plenish them. And it's estimated in
twenty fifty there will be nine point seven billion people
on the planet. So what's going to happen. I'm not
going to even try to answer that, except to remind
people that one child in an affluent society will use
(10:21):
sometimes as much as ten percent more of the natural
resources than a child growing up in poverty in Asia
or Africa. And then, of course the final thing that
we have to solve is corruption. It's rife everywhere. And
until we've tried to solve these four problems, which are
(10:45):
true all of them, then if we don't, then if
we carry on with business as usual, it's going to
be the end of us. We need the natural environment,
we depend on it, clean air and water.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And so.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That's why I started Roots and Shoots, our program for
young people, because I found they were losing hope, they
were angry, they were depressed, or they were just apathetic.
And yes, they told me, well, you've compromised our future
and there's nothing we can do about it. We've actually
been stealing their future. We still are, but there is
(11:26):
something that can be done. And Roots and Shoots is
about taking action. The Djangodal Institute is about taking action.
We try to alleviate poverty in seven different African countries
around Chimpanzee habitat, find help them to find alternative ways
of living without destroying the environment. And the Roots and
(11:47):
Shoots groups now in sixty five countries, kindergarten, university, everything
in between. Hundreds and thousands of groups, and each group
chooses three projects to make the world better of a
p people, animals, for the environment. Because everything is interconnected.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You've had a front row seat watching the natural world
changes you just articulated, and watching humankind demolish and then
rebuild entire ecosystems. What is the source of your optimism
today and how are you keeping this message vital during
this time of travel, restrictions and isolation.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, I've got.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Four reasons for hope, and the first one is that
youth program.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I talk to persons.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Yeah, when young people know the problem and we listen
to them and empower them to take action. What they're
doing now they are as we speak. There are groups
saving the world. Although it's pretty hard for most of
them when they're lockdown to do well, they to do so.
Hopefully one day they'll be able to go back to
doing things in group, because that's what gives them, you know, energy.
(13:03):
The second reason for hope is the resilience of nature.
It's unbelievable places we have destroyed can once again become
green and support life. And I see so many examples
of that. As I'm going around the world, so many
people I meet who are just doing incredible things and
restoring ecosystems and restoring forests and protecting forests and giving
(13:28):
animals on the brink of extinction and other chance. You know,
I've got so many stories about all those things, and
then this brain. The problem is with us today is
there seems to be a disconnect between this unbelievable intellect
that we have and the heart human love and compassion.
(13:50):
And I truly think that unless head and heart work
in harmony, will never attain our true human potential. Because
you know, think of what scientists have done amazing things,
sending a rocket up to the moon to Mars with
a robot taking photographs. We know we can't live there,
(14:13):
So how is the most intellectual species ever destroying its
only home because this disconnect between head and heart. Oh,
my final reason for hope is what I call the
indomitable human spirit, the people who tackle what seems impossible
(14:34):
and won't give up. So you know, there's even a
silver lining with this COVID nineteen pandemic, and that is
that more people are aware of the fact that it's
our destruction of the natural world. That's in our disrespect
(14:54):
of animals that's actually led to this pandemic. It was predicted,
It's been predicted the soil long and certainly some of
these epidemics and pandemics have come from very cruel treatment
of animals as well as destruction of the of the
natural world. So if you cut down a lot of forests,
(15:15):
a lot of animals come closer together who wouldn't have
been in contact before. That enables a virus or a
bacteria to spill over into another species where it's different.
And then animals that pushed into closer contact with people
and these viruses, I think the ones that jump over
(15:36):
from an old traditional host into a new animal. Maybe
they're more active, I don't know, not to virologists, but anyway,
and jump over. But then in addition, wild animals, we
hunt them, kill them, eat them, traffic them, sell them
off to these wild animal meat markets in Asia, the
(15:57):
bush meat markets in Africa, and these create perfect environments
for the viruses and bacteria to spill over as that
they have it's been shown. And then finally those are
terribly cruel and totally awful and shameful factory farms where
(16:17):
billions of animals are now crammed together in often unsanitary conditions.
That too, has led in several cases to epidemics. Yes,
the virus has spilled over, and it's.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Not just in a third world country.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
It's in the United States where these farms exist too.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yes, everywhere. And in fact, it was one farm and
I think it was Iowa that led to one of
these epidemics. It was from cattle, and another one in
factory farm pigs in Asia. So you know, we're just
there's a cruel streak in US. And it all ties
into what I was saying. Animals have their sentient They're
(17:00):
not just things put here for us to use and abuse.
And people talk about a factory farm and the cruelty
to pigs. I think it's not cruelty to billions of pigs.
Each pig has a life, Each pig has feelings and
can feel fear and distress. And it's the individuals in
(17:21):
all of these situations. It's so easy to think of
a mass of animal and a mass of humanity, but
we're all made up of individuals with our own our
own will to live to tell. Butch fights.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I saw something in the news yesterday.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
That the air pollution index is improved by seventeen percent
with this pandemic, And at least it's sad. It brings
to reality a lot of things that we might have doubted.
Just in that short time we're seeing an improvement.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, I think you know the one. Of course, there's
leaders around the planet. I won't mention names, but there
are certain leaders itching to get back to business as
usual and start up the economy, and in fact even
probably too soon. And you know, China's opened up coal mines.
(18:23):
President Trump wants to go into coal energy. Volsonaro wants
to chop down forests all for economic development. So again
and again, economic development is put ahead protecting the environment
for the future. And I say it again. We need
the natural environment. We depend on it for clean air,
(18:45):
clean water, food and all the rest of it. And spiritually,
something about nature that we need for our spirit. And
so my hope again is that there'll be enough billions
of people, well certainly millions from the big cities who
probably never before had the luxury of breathing clean air
(19:08):
right up and seeing stars bright in a night sky.
And although right now we're the kind of leaders we
have with the swing to the far right. Maybe this
won't make They won't be able to make too much difference.
Although I think millions and millions of people won't change,
I hear it everywhere. But my hope is that the
(19:30):
groundswell will grow and grow, and parents will tell their children,
until there's a force of people that first of all,
make a difference by not buying products from companies that
are harming the environment, consumer pressure, and enough pressure that
governments will have to change.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
We hope that you enjoyed this special Success Is Significance
program with doctor Jane Goodall. Again thanks to our friend
Tim Love for allowing us to play these segments from
his Discovering Truth series, and we hope that you also
(20:11):
can find your way to significance. While you're busy in
your chase for success, consider what you can do to
make a difference in this world. Every weekd
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