World-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has spent the last 40 years of her life traveling the world, sharing her experiences with chimpanzees in an effort to save them from extinction.
She recently made a stop in Sioux City, and ahead of her appearance she spoke to Charity Nebbe about why she spends 300 days a year on the road.
“We are divorcing ourselves from the natural world, and yet we're part of it,” she said. “And not only that, we depend on it for food, water, clean air and everything else, but we depend on healthy ecosystems where every plant and animal has the role to play, and they're interdependent. And it's these ecosystems that we are destroying.”
Goodall hit a turning point in her career at a 1986 conference that brought together six chimp field studies in different parts of Africa.
It became obvious that we're part of — and not separate from — the amazing animal kingdom.Jane Goodall
“We had a session on conservation, and it was absolutely shocking to find right across Africa, chimp numbers were dropping, and forests were being destroyed. But in captivity, these closest relatives of ours were being confined in five-foot by five-foot cages — maybe 30, 40, years — for medical research or for entertainment,” she said. “So I went as a scientist, planning to spend the rest of my life at Gombe, and I left as an activist, knowing I had to do something.”
In her observations of chimpanzees, she understood that the animals had emotions and personalities — a radical notion at the time. In her work to save chimpanzees from exploitation and extinction, she shares experiences that illustrate how we are similar to these primates and why we should have empathy for them.
“It's really, really important as we move forward, that people begin to understand that we who are not the only thinking, feeling beings on the planet, and because chimpanzees, logically, are so like us, we share 98.7% of our DNA with them, it became obvious that we're part of — and not separate from — the amazing animal kingdom.”
Though the chimps Goodall has devoted her life to are endangered, and says the planet continues to be exploited for human interests, she remains hopeful, especially when looking at future generations.
“The Jane Goodall Institute has a program for young people. It's called Roots and Shoots. It began with 12 high school students in Tanzania. That program is now in 75 countries, and it has members from kindergarten all through university,” she said. “And it's not that they can change the world, they are changing the world. They're rolling up their sleeves and taking action.”
To hear this conversation listen to Talk of Iowa, hosted by Charity Nebbe. Caitlin Troutman produced this episode.
