A deeper dive can be found here https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/magazine/jane-goodall-is-still-wild-at-heart.html
2
God, Goodall's wrong about so many things. She's so sanctimonious. About the Germans maybe she should read "All Hitler's Executioners." Yes, it was the regime that was evil, aided and abetted by the German people who were steeped historically in a genocidal anti-Semitic society who willed Hitler and the Nazis into power and understood and approved the Nazis' murderous policies. There were over three thousand concentration and extermination camps in the Third Reich. It's tough to miss the odor of burning human flesh or the construction and activities surrounding vast facilities of extermination and torture. All the Germans, all of them, were complicit in the Jewish Holocaust, and deserved life imprisonment and capital punishment. The Germans got away with murder the world is still reeling from.
3
Such great advice, and delivered with such humility. Findings ways to compensate folks for protecting what we've become so effective at destroying. And so much more cost-effective. Climate mitigators versus climate refugees.
4
Thank you NYT. More please.
4
Jane Goodall’s work inspired me to travel to Borneo to learn about orangutans from the world’s leading primatologist on orangutans, Dr Birute Mary Galdikas, another Leakey protege. I learned about another species close up—from orphaned babies to adults. In the first of my three wildlife travels, I FELT the interconnectedness of all things on earth. We cannot continue destroying habitat and species without severe consequences.
20
I'm so very glad I read this article about the amazing Jane Goodall, right after I read the piece on Liz Cheney, just before going to bed.
Perhaps, there is stiil hope for us.
12
@Dennis
The truth about Goodall, like the truth about Cheney, is yet to be revealed. If there is any "hope" it's that you'll learn to read with skepticism and disbelief what you read about celebrities who make a good living and enjoy privileges thanks to marketing and advertising lies. HASN'T TRUMP TAUGHT YOU ANYTHING!
One of the great women, make that one of the great people, of our time. A true champion of the natural world and of the human place within in, not apart from it, she has made so many see the wild anew. I've interviewed her and met her on a number of occasions, including one time when I brought my worshipful adolescent daughters to meet her. She was warm and gracious, as ever. They were thrilled, as should we all be to number her among our simian species.
16
Jane, you give us hope. We love you.
11
Wonderful woman. I love reading her books.
8
Jane is my hero, too, for so many reasons, like the ones other commenters have shared. And here's one you might not expect: She is beautiful in old age, showing that caring and sacrifice shine through the years. (Sacrifice = leaving her beloved Gombe chimpanzees to live out of a suitcase, traveling the world).
8
Louis Leakey knew what he was doing when he chose Jane Goodall as a protege. Not only did her work as a young researcher have a profound impact on our understanding of chimpanzees, but she has worked tirelessly to promote conservation and education through community planning and development and training opportunities. Thank you, Jane Goodall, for all you have done and all you are doing.
13
She's an icon. I used to love Tarzan, too, in my 1950's reading, and watching, bubble of exotic heroes. Then I realized what a horrible, and "normal," racist Edgar Rice Boroughs was.
2
Let’s follow her example, shall we?
8
Humanity with courageous integrity:
Jane Goodall, Pete Seeger, Muhammad Ali.
Humanity with wimpy, lack of integrity:
Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Mitch McConnell.
Take your pick who you would want your children to emulate.
12
No one should be happy about Ms Goodall as long as the planet and its creatures continue to be devastated by OUR consumption and/or ineffectiveness stopping it. She is a tragic figure as are others - some of them killed in the Amazon etc. - because her goals are so far from being realized. This smug self-satisfaction that here ‘we’ have a great person - from the other comments - is totally misplaced and delusional while out in the world Nature is being decimated daily minute by minute hour by hour - and in many cases right in our American suburban backyards, literally, as deforestation of our US suburbs is the new trend of landscaping and redevelopment. In sum, there is no time celebrate, but instead we must activate and DO SOMETHING. Do EVERYTHING.
3
Jane Goodall has touched more souls than she could imagine. In the midst of our country’s moral and ethical decline under meritocracy, Dr. Goodall gives us hope in humanity. She’s proof positive that being well educated and smart doesn’t need to be flaunted or used to exploit others, but can be used for the greater good.
12
Goodall's message about not buying products of companies who are oblivious to the havoc their practices create for animals is non-controversial.
If some one is doing something bad, we as consumers have a right to express our displeasure by boycotting their products.
American Congress would not dream of vilifying Jane's plan of action of registering the disapproval of potential buyers. However Congress recently passed a bill that makes boycott of products made in the Occupied territories in Palestine.
Is boycott OK only when US Congress approves of the entity being boycotted? Or do we American citizens have a right to express our views unhindered by the politics of the situation?
4
Many people minimize the importance of working towards conservation and animal rights because they argue that doing so takes focus from human problems, such as poverty. Yet Goodall demonstrates how in reality, the world's problems are all inherently connected. For instance, much of poaching and deforestation is due to human poverty and lack of resources. Through comprehensive problem-solving like Goodall's, that take all people and creatures into account, we can sustainably work towards making the world a better place.
21
Animals aren't here for us, they're here with us. I don't know who said this, but I think of these words when I think of Jane Goodall. She is truly a treasure. I know that things are far from right in the world, but she made them more right, and that's something.
21
We need more like Jane Goodall on the planet. What a champion for chimps, and all species. I hope we listen before it’s too late. Thank you for this wonderful article.
15
Sip your whiskey Ms. Goodall.
You've earned it.
Thank you!
17
48, she is my hero, all my life, her path has lead me on my own. thank you!
7
Simply the best. She reminds us to be compassionate, and to help every living thing to be more wild, and free.
17
Jane Goodall, you are my hero and have been since I read In the Shadow of Man in the 1990s. I ended up in medicine but my original degree -- in biology -- was inspired partly by you.
10
My son and daughter are going to attend Jane Goodall conference in Washington DC this month. What the current administration and EPA have done is unconscionable for the environment ?
Deep admiration and gratitude for what Miss Goodall has done for this planet and humanity.
17
If we only had more Jane Goodall's, what a wonderful world it would be.
8
A truly special and rare person. The problem with the world is that we have many such people - only not enough of them. The money grabbers and takers are in the majority, and they will not rest until the last tree is taken and the last animal killed.
10
"Just think logically!" I love that sentiment. Jane has always been an inspiration to me, just as the late Dian Fossey was. These women are heroes and we should fight to protect their legacy of work and the lives of the chimps in their natural habitat.
15
Oh Jane, you are the best. Thank you for your wisdom and your work, always, ever. And I loved the Tarzan books too. And Jameson's neat.
7
I heard Jane Goodall speak at a question & answer session after a showing of "Jane" at VIFF and she was a delight. She spoke so matter of fact about her ground-breaking work, it made me love her even more.
9
Lovely human being. Warm, gracious and kind.
13
Jane Goodall and others like her devoted their lives to conservation and educating Homo sapiens about our obligation to protect other lifeforms from extinction due to our own acts. She is living treasure.
In order to successfully save habitat for other species as well as keep the planet livable for humans, there is only one global action that will stop the foreseeable extinction of millions of species.
Humans will need to agree to control our own population and to limit expansion into habitats that other species need to survive.
The suggestions of boycotting businesses, becoming vegetarians or not using plastic are good ideas, but they will have no impact on the unrelenting increase in numbers of humans who want and need to takeover remaining wild habitat areas to live or exploit the resources. Unless humans solve the population problem and our carbon output, Jane Goodall's conservation efforts will not be enough to save her beloved Chimps and millions of other species and possibly ourselves.
24
I love Jane Goodall. I love her passion and her optimism and her continued work.
Thank you for the article, and let me recommend the documentary "Jane"; it is marvelous and moving.
17
As a biology instructor (first at the secondary level and now at university) I have always shown my students short clips of Jane's first movie, "Among the Wild Chimpanzees" by National Geographic.
I wish for students to see the incredible similarities between the chimps and us, including vocal calls and facial expressions,but also hugs and even kisses.
The best part of a clip I show is a large male sitting beside a path when a very young chimp comes up and gives him a hug. Then, the adult male pats the younger one on its back several times. Pretty hard not to see the likeness between species!
I enjoy so much spreading Jane's special knowledge of the Gombe chimps to as many students as I can.
190
@GRW no. You and I are our closest relation. Forget about monkeys. Let’s do our Mothers work and send the genome beyond planetary boundaries. Stop buying into the death culture of Climate Change and choose to live a meaningful, connected existence. Let’s get out of here!
3
Jane Goodall became my first childhood hero the moment I encountered her on the cover of National Geographic. She has never disappointed through all the years since. Jane changed how we see the world around us--a change for the better by far.
209
Jane Goodall makes me want to be a better person and help our earth. She is the opposite of bombastic, she is plain spoken and true so I find myself listening carefully to what she says.
294
@sues Jane Goodall makes all of us want to be a better person by her intelligence and common sense.
62
@Jacquie
I'd be a little careful overestimating the woman's common sense and character. What do you really know about her? I wager nothing much at all.
@sues Well said and I couldn’t agree more!!
3
They religious may have their Saints, and Prophets, but secularists, like myself, have the likes of Jane Goodall - a tribute and inspiration to humanity, and to where humanity needs to go for its own survival.
324
@Albert stefan
Absolutely Albert. St. Jane and a pantheon of others.
As for...."and to where humanity has to go for its survival..." i suggest these words of Jane's to be the most powerful step we can all take right now. Rein in our consumerism and ..."If you don’t like the way the business does its business, don’t buy their products." !!
29
@Albert stefan
And she enjoys a bit of whiskey, that makes her a Saint in my book.
28
@Albert Stefan Amen.
3
Simply stated, I love that woman.
113
One of the great prophets of our time.
17
We can assist Jane Goodall's work by supporting the Jane Goodall Institute and/or other organizations dedicated to the welfare of chimps (in particular) and our planet and its creatures in general. Jane has been a shining exemplar of how good humans can be: curious, intelligent, compassionate... and also forgiving and pragmatic. She would celebrate the impact of even small changes in behavior, such as reducing use of plastic or eating less meat.
17
Jane Goodall embodies the potential richness and wisdom awaiting anyone who leaves human arrogance behind. A much better future could await us if we embraced a Learn-From-Nature’s-Wisdom curiosity as Jane has done. Janine Benyus is another role model of this ethic. Her inspirational work in spreading the wisdom of Biomimicry -(Nature has 350 million years of R&D under its belt. Learn from it!) points our humanity in a similar humble and wise direction.
7
She has been a role model for stewardship of our home all of her life. She is a wonderful light and she is passing the torch to the rest of us.
BUT we are not listening: I was struck by the fact that only 79 comments had been posted about such a leader, while every article about celebrities, sports figures and other ephemeral issues receives hundreds.
25
I'm older than she is, but in the late Sixties and early Seventies I spent 3 years in the East African bush. Among the many researchers in ethology she was already a legendary figure. I even spent a bit of time working with one of her researchers on wild dogs.
Jane Goodall is a light in the darkness. While it seems that the darkness will win, thank God for the light while it lasts.
40
Since you featured this icon, and don't hear her sustainability-oriented messages in mainstream channels as much as we need to, here's a review of some and how they relate to what we do hear. (1) We need both businesses and consumers to step up. It's not either/or, the way it is sometimes put. Business can really help, but at some point it's going to take some rethinking of fundamentals. Critters are critically relevant, but even now uncommonly come up at sustainable business and sustainability forums. (2) We're not going to be able to save endangered species and their forest or other habitats without viable livelihoods for the people who live there, along with a lot of reforestation and soil regeneration, and education for girls. There are social connections to environmental issues. The Green New Deal gets this, but gets critiqued for it; (3) humans and chimps aren't so different, biologically or socially, something we probably once knew, but forgot. (4) people can still be highly productive in their 80's, although it can take effort along the way to overcome the limitations we all have. (5) reductionism has limits. (6) Ethics is relevant. (7) reasons to eat less meat keep compiling. (8) parents and teachers need to provide space and seed-planting opportunities for children to figure out later won't be obvious to anyone at the time. (9) Tarzan, the first question I ever asked in a college course, and critiqued by my professor as bad scholarship, still, wasn't a bad way in.
25
@Matt Polsky
Wonderful list, thank you.
4
Thank you Jane for being such an important voice for the animals.
Ditto on the suggestion for the Nobel Peace Prize to be conferred on this amazing and tireless lady who has for decades been spreading the word, educating youth to help creatures and the environment in which we live.
34
Some commenters have questioned whether it is appropriate to refer to Dr. Goodall as Jane.
Please consider the possibility that some of the commenters knew Jane before she got her doctorate and/or are personally acquainted with her.
Also note that Jane is an unpretentious person, and doesn’t seem to mind when strangers call her Jane.
Further, the major film about her is titled Jane, not Dr. Goodall.
12
@Mon Ray: You’re another who entirely missed my point. We do not refer to distinguished older men by their first names. Let’s accord the same respect to distinguished older women. (Why does this seem particularly hard for men to understand?)
6
@Heliotrophic Perhaps the humility conveyed by the use of first names is preferable to the arrogance conveyed by using "Dr."? If the goal is to just replicate our present hierarchical system but with different folks at the top, then by all means call her Dr. Goodall.
But if the goal is to establish a more equitable society then perhaps broadening the habits we use for "distinguished" men is not the best path forward? Perhaps we'd be better off not elevating folks? Perhaps we should start calling those "distinguished" men by their first names?
Just a thought.
3
A shining example of humanity in action. Thank you!
22
“When I look at a plate of meat, I can only see Pain, Suffering & Death” - Dame Jane Goodall
That one powerful quote turned me vegan instantly.
Thank you Jane! Our Earth thanks you, the animals thank you & the peoples who lives you’ve touched and changed thank you!
40
@Jason Strotz
You might want to consider becoming a vegetarian first. I know it's fashionable to embrace the extreme, but giving up dairy means you have to pay very close attention to nutrition.
And if you can't manage that, try moderation. I agree that our meat-eating assumptions are all wrong, but it's not so easy to convince everyone to change everything all at once.
Having been a vegetarian, I get a little tired of the condemnation that comes from vegans for everyone who doesn't spend their lives being "perfect". It leads to boom and bust in diet, and the guilt of failing at reaching the ideal overnight doesn't help.
Please forgive me for giving this advice. I worry about a society that has become intolerant of paying attention to the daily realities we all would do better to notice.
6
@Susan Anderson
Rather than feeling "guilt," a more helpful entry
into the detrimental consequences to animals from
the dairy industry can be read at
www.mothersagainstdairy.org
Regarding the nutritional benefits of a vegan diet,
www.pcrm.org and the youtube presentations of
Dr. Neal Barnard clearly spell them out.
1
"That’s what Ms. Goodall does these days. She talks. To anyone who will listen."
Sadly, so few politicians and those with the power to correct our errors as a whole rarely are ready to (or capable of) closing their mouths and do so and learn.
15
I wish we could clone Jane Goodall. We might have a chance of saving our planet, our Mother Earth, and all the multitudes of magnificent creatures who call her home.
25
This woman has revolutionized primatology. Give her a Nobel Prize before it is too late.
78
@hd Her work (and that of other pioneering field primatologists) is still not understood. If it were, she would have gotten (and still get) the Nobel Prize for Economics.
6
I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jane. Her dedication has always been a source of motivation for me.
She is one of the greats.
35
As a teenager I waited breathlessly for the next yellow National Geographic, hoping to see an article about Jane and Gombe. Jane is the reason I studied primate socioecology, and later, turned to tropical forest conservation. Without forests, there will be no wild primates.
Thank you, Jane! you have inspired several generations of female primatologists.
52
I grew up watching Ms. Goodall on the TV specials. She opened my eyes to the lives of animals and the beauty of the world. Ms. Goodall has always been my female champion and a voice like hers should never be silenced. I have always admired her and ever little action I take I attribute to listening and learning from Ms. Goodall.
Thank you NYT for updating us all about her current activities. My little check is in the mail.
Ms.Goodall please remain safe and God bless.
35
Bless her and her work. Long may she fight the good fight for our fellow creatures.
28
I had the amazing opportunity of both listening to and meeting Jane earlier this year in Sydney. Wow!!!!
Where I call home is North West New South Wales in Australia. We are struggling with horrendous drought conditions, dust storms and bush fires, Climate Change is very real to us.
Our Landcare Group, NW Koala ARKS, is endevouring to establish life saving "Water for Wildlife" drinkers.
Last weekend, filmmaker Damon Gameau visited our little community with his enlightening and inspirational film, 2040.
Both Jane and Damon give us future hope. We as a society need to continue to spread their wise and insightful ideas for the benefit of both human society and the natural world.
My heartfelt thanks xxx
27
Jane Goodall is one of earth's mothers. She understands the limits of Mother Earth and that humans are a threat to nature's equilibrium. Humans think they can control and exploit the earth, but ultimately, one day, Mother Earth will have a say, and humans will likely face extinction themselves. I'm afraid the clock is ticking to sooner than later in that extinction process.
27
God Bless Jane Goodall! Kudos to her wisdom, sacrifice and activism on behalf of all of us and the flora and fauna! Who will speak on behalf of the animals and the earth when she is gone?
21
Am I the only one feeling a bit sad that so many commenters here are referring to Dr. Goodall as “Jane?” (I erred in using “Ms.” in a previous comment, not realizing she had a doctorate. She also was awarded a DBE.) Dr. Goodall is an internationally known and very important person. If you wouldn’t refer to men whom you don’t know personally as “Barack” or “Anderson” or “Liam,” why call her “Jane?” (“Bernie” is an exception, it seems.)
16
@Heliotrophic as the past chair of her Australian charity and currently working at a global level for the Jane Goodall Institute I can tell you she doesn’t mind being called Jane. A wonderful movie about her was called Jane. She prefers Jane to anything formal as she is a very down to earth person...despite her iconic status.
23
@Paul Smith: I'm not surprised - Dr. Goodall seems like a lovely person. But President Obama is a very down-to-earth person and strangers don't call him "Barack" in the NY Times comment section. What I am pointing out here is the disparate level of respect shown older women as opposed to older men. If I met with Dr. Goodall personally, I would call her "Dr." and be fine with switching if she asked me to -- personally.
16
@Heliotrophic Please consider the possibility that some of the commenters are personally acquainted with Jane, and/or knew her before she became Dr. Goodall. I am one of those people.
5
“If you don’t like the way business does its business don’t buy its products.”...
It’s the only defense the planet has.
35
Jane is one of my favourite people. She's super.
37
What an amazing life. For me, Jane Goodall is one of the most inspiring people of our time. We're lucky to have had her on this planet.
84
“One million species are in danger of extinction,”
By far the best way to support chimpanzees and wildlife in Africa is to curb the explosion and expansion of human populations. In 2050 there will be 400 million Nigerians. In Niger, an average woman has 7 children. This is not sustainable.
65
@Kai
Neither is the overly-consumptive & polluting American lifestyle (despite a major decline in childbearing), which contributes directly to Nigerian environmental degradation through shady, barely-compensated petroleum extraction, dumping of used clothing into markets, and older & less fuel-efficient cars shipped from the US.
This is not a Nigerian problem.
More Developed Countries bear a very large responsibility for habitat destruction and harmful resource extraction, despite being removed physically.
2
Words of wisdom from a very admirable woman. I had the good fortune to hear her speak several years ago. I could have listened to her for hours.
Jane, thank you for everything you have done and continue to do for the chimps and our planet. Over population has to be curtailed, not just talked about. Birth control and the education of girls and women are two important factors not easily accomplished in patriarchal cultures in third world countries. And let’s not forget the negative influence of the Catholic Church in regard to birth control.
93
@Olivia It's not just the Catholic Church. Many churches, see Quiverfull, believe in having as many children as possible.
34
@Olivia. I think you are a little behind the times. The case for Girls’ education has been won in most places, except for much of sub-Saharan Africa... and, the “official” Catholic Church Policy is having little effect on family-planning. Try the short clear book Factfulness, by Dr. Hans Rosling (deceased, he was a U.N. & WHO epidemiologist), or his website, kept by his son, Gapminder.org. The fertility rate “per woman”, in the Catholic continent of countries in S. America, eg confirmed by our tour guide in Chile, is 1.8, lower than America. Europe, S.Korea, Japan, and yes -China- already have shrinking populations except for immigration (and, none of that, in those Asian countries). Fertility Rate in Bangladesh, a Muslim country, is 2.3 and falling, just barely above replacement rate. Women need only education, and some assurance that their 1 to 3 babies will survive, and they all choose the same. There’s even a book now called “The Empty Planet, the economic shock of coming population decline”.
2
As one of the great primatologists and thinkers of our time Jane clearly sees that the current path of human endeavor is having a profoundly negative impact on the future of life on our planet. Many people state that we will "adapt" to future situations that occur, thereby shirking responsibility for actions that can be taken now.
Our collective shortsightedness is a threat not only to our ability to survive and thrive as a species, but to the million or millions of cohabitant species who will have little to no say in their future. To be aware of this and to not act may prove to be our greatest mistake.
40
@skyfiber wow. The earth is not sentient. It has no intention for humans. It doesn't care if we live or die. Its our choice to make collectively. If we choose to kill ourselves off by killing off the forests that give us oxygen, depleting the land that feeds us, killing off the mesh of interdependent species that makes it all work, the earth will let us do that and then it will slowly recover and make way for new species to evolve without us.
9
@Jeff I'm well aware that the earth will continue to exist and change whether we are here or not. It's not about the earth having intention. I was writing about the consequences to living creatures including us, that human actions will affect.
I guess a big question I have is how will we make a collective choice as a species that will be to our benefit in the long run? I don't believe we are one organism that can easily make a decision and move on, though some would argue the point. Perhaps you believe that the panoply of choices each of us make eventually result in something that can be thought of as collective action.
1
@Loyd. U.N. statistics (see Gapminder.org for selected graphs) show that the World AverageRate of babies-per-woman has steadily dropped, from 1965 average of 5, to 2017 average of 2.5, and with many diverse countries from China to Chile to Canada, to all of Europe, having rates below replacement rate of 2.1... those few sub-Saharan or mid-east countries with higher rates, their rates are also dropping, in fact... this suggests a first, most important, collective action has happened.
1
Jane Goodall is a treasure of humanity, and I almost can't express my admiration and awe of her, even though she speaks of herself so plainly. What really sticks with me about this article, however is her mother's wisdom: “If you really want this, you’re going to have to work really hard. Take advantage of every opportunity, and don’t give up.” I feel that applies to Jane's environmental message as well - I'm not giving up.
42
Thank you NYTimes and David Gelles for your most empathetic, informative, enlightening, and hope for the future interview of Jane Goodall!..her interesting background, how she made her childhood dream become a reality, and STiLL going strong with her activism!..her dedication, never giving up on making the world more civilized, preserving the Earth...Native American Indians believe that "the animals are the guardians of the Earth, that whatever happens to the animals WiLL happen to humans"...animals WiLL warn us about what is going on with the environment, severe weather, any change that is not normal...protecting us, ALWAYS looking out, animals use their instincts better than we so-called more intelligent beings!...we should all LiSTEN to Jane Goodall's warnings based on the common sense (not so common!) that she relied on to survive, learn, and to teach us to preserve this beautiful world before it is too late!...Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" always reminds me that, despite the terrible, destructive things some people do, it is STiLL a "wonderful world, oh yeah"...and, Jane Goodall made it clear that, chimpanzees, like humans, have a "dark, brutal side" but also "love, compassion, altruism"...so, let us have MORE love, compassion for each other and Mother Earth!...Gratefully [email protected]
24
Jane Goodall's contributions to science and to culture are so iconic that it's hard to contemplate a world without them. In a time when it's difficult to find the admirable person in any walk of life, she stand high for her compassion, wisdom and determination.
Thanks for this reminder.
59
Jane Goodall has been a hero of mine ever since I can remember. I teach high school English, and I am struck by my students' inability to consider the world beyond their lifetime. Roots and Shoots - Pay it forward, because we should and because we can. Ubuntu- I am because we are.
42
My dear Ms. Goodall
You will ALWAYS be a hero in the hearts of my family. You have been the inspiration, motivation and pride of our daughter who vows to follow in your footsteps. Rest well, you have done well.
Thank you
35
Such a deeply inspiring woman. I once passed her on the street here in D.C. and considered telling her how much I admired her, but decided not to bother her. Anyway, she's a true hero in every sense. Nobel Prize sounds right to me!
105
@Patrick Yes. Nobel Prize.
33
Surprisingly, at the end, she does not mention the number one thing people can do to save the planet - don't have kids! Surprising because of her involvement with 'Population Matters', an organization dedicated to the issue, and also because none of us will be separated any time soon from our tech-toys, huge houses, and gas-guzzling F-150s.
I have great respect for Jane Goodall, Attenborough, Suzuki and the rest, but message has been the same since the 1960s and nothing has changed.
48
People want to have a family.
6
@cindy -- And the main reasons the planet's population has soared since 1900 (< 1 billion) to today's (almost 8 billion -- https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/) are modern medicine, sanitation and antibiotics.
5
@Zejee
if we would just reproduce ourselves.
or only one child.
3
I, too, remember looking at those Holocaust pictures in Life and Look magazines at age ten. Yes, it was shocking. It was horrible. Today I am on doing as much as i can to thwart our prison system as it now stands. (The highest incarceration rate among the countries who consider themselves to be progressive.) It seems, and i hope so, seeing those pictures as a young person, affected many people to act and do something good that would affect many people.
13
Past due for the Nobel prize. Her name will be mentioned for 1000 years.
47
@Henrysor Her name deserves to be mentioned for 1,000 years, certainly, but we won't be around that long because no one is paying attention to her message.
5
She is truly amazing and unique. I recently read "Visionary Women" by Andrea Barnet. She has a great bio/section on Jane Goodall. Covers her life so well and is wonderfully written. (Also great chapters on Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson and Alice Waters - all game changing women.)
34
The animals and the forests have intrinsic value. Jane Goodall understood that and is a most effective teacher. While her outer beauty brought her mentorships and publicity as a young woman, it is her inner beauty of valuing life forms which will prove to be the most lasting legacy.
72
If you truly can only view the world only in terms of what you (not even other people!) find valuable, then you really ought to take an elementary biology class where you can learn about food chains and the interdependence of species. For, though you are not benefiting “the animals and the forests,” they are surely benefiting you.
26
@asdfj We do some things because they are the right thing to do. Helping orphans doesn't do much for the economy but it's the right thing to do. Sadly, many seem to think like yourself. Hence the slow train wreck we are all collectively on. But practically, biodiversity in general helps maintain the overall "robustness" of our biosphere (which includes those non-endangered things you eat). Loss of biological diversity ultimately leads to collapsed food chains and increased vulnerability to disease which impacts humanity. Yes, it matters.
27
@asdfj. This view is so extraordinarily limited that it makes you think you haven't ever even tried to answer your own question.
12
It is highly peculiar for the NYT to suggest that Jane Goodall on her own went from a young girl dreaming about jungles to actually studying chimpanzees in the jungle, without mentioning that the person directly responsible for Dr. Goodall’s getting to work in Africa was her mentor and sponsor, Dr. Richard Leakey.
Richard first hired Jane as a secretary in Kenya, then shipped her to Tanzania to study chimpanzees. Jane’s mother went along to serve as chaperone since Jane’s work was being filmed by handsome cinematographer Hugo van Lawick, whom she later married and still later divorced.
It was only after Jane’s extensive field work that she went back to school to get her doctorate, not even having a college degree when she first worked for Louis Leakey.
This information in no way detracts from Dr. Goodall’s numerous accomplishments in primate behavior studies and environmental activism; indeed, it fleshes out the picture and image of a highly talented and interesting woman, and underscores the fact that non-traditional career paths do exist.
130
You do know that a newspaper or website is not a place for a full biography, I bet. Especially so in the case of Ms. Goodall, who has had such a long and interesting life. In case you didn’t remember that, the interview states: “This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.”
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@Mon Ray
It was Louis Leakey, not his son Richard.
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@Heliotrophic If Jane Goodall, who at age 23 had no academic credentials whatsoever, had not met and been mentored and supported by Louis Leakey, it is highly unlikely that she would have been able to go out on her own to achieve fame and fortune for her work on primates, which she has since parlayed into prominence and activism in multiple arenas.
This article is rather like interviewing Eliza Doolittle without asking her what role Henry Higgins played in her transformation.
Again, Jane Goodall is responsible and deserves credit for what she has accomplished, but I am sure she would be the first to acknowledge her considerable debt to Louis Leakey—if given the opportunity by an interviewer and editor.
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Such a beautiful person! Someone to set an example for all of us, particularly the girls and women whose lives are distracted by the culture of celebrity that surrounds us.
Ms. Goodall is a REAL celebrity!
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This woman is admired by many including myself for much of my life. The article was great , but why did the title have to include the final phrase? Ms. Goodall is not preaching - she is sharing her knowledge, observations and thoughts from years of experience. She is a role model for many. Is there not a more positive word that could be used?
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Jane Goodall is such an excellent and admirable person, and she is right to beseech business leaders and capitalists to think logically. It is a little rich, however, that she moves from claiming her home is "hotels and airplanes" these days to telling consumers they are somehow responsible for eliminating waste in a system that is built to occlude the impact of all our choices.
4
If people can ever learn to be as inspired by a movie or a Skype call as they are by being in the presence of a living legend, I have no doubt that Ms. Goodall will be happy to stay home.
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