Calm, compassionate, compelling, utterly courageous and rarely – and always judiciously – outrageous, legendary primatologist Dr Jane Goodall died in October aged 91 after a lifetime of practical field work, impeccable scholarship and global advocacy at the highest levels for the planet and all its beings.
While acknowledging that the Earth is currently in a very dark place, she said, in an interview recorded for the posthumous Famous Last Words archive, that we should not have it in us to give up.
“The future is compromised and it can seem as if not a lot can be done about it,” she said.
“In the place where I am now, I look back over my life. I look back at the world I’ve left behind. What message do I want to leave? I want to make sure that you all understand that each and every one of you has a role to play. You may not know it, you may not find it, but your life matters, and you are here for a reason.
“And I just hope that reason will become apparent as you live through your life. I want you to know that, whether or not you find that role that you’re supposed to play, your life does matter, and that every single day you live, you make a difference in the world. And you get to choose the difference that you make.
“I want you to understand that we are part of the natural world. And even today, when the planet is dark, there still is hope. Don’t lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic and do nothing. And if you want to save what is still beautiful in this world – if you want to save the planet for the future generations, your grandchildren, their grandchildren – then think about the actions you take each day.
“Because, multiplied a million, a billion times, even small actions will make for great change. I just hope that you understand that this life on Planet Earth isn’t the end. I believe, and now I know, that there is life beyond death. That consciousness survives.
“Above all, I want you to think about the fact that when we’re on Planet Earth we are part of Mother Nature. We depend on Mother Nature for clean air, for water, for food, for clothing, for everything. And as we destroy our ecosystems one after another, as we create worse climate change, worse loss of diversity, we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today, and for those that will follow.
“You have it in your power to make a difference. Don’t give up. There is a future for you. Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful Planet. God bless you all.”
Jane Goodall died unexpectedly a few months later, peacefully and while on one of the speaking tours that kept her on the run around the world on 300 days of any given year. Her advocacy for a more equitable world – from wildlife corridors to unwinding poverty as a major factor in massive losses of species and cultures, was a roadmap for a more fair and connected world order, often specifically for young people, and always, the message was in a story.
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you,” she often reminded her young audiences. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
She herself always knew, and the barefoot blonde in her early 20s, walking among chimpanzees in Tanzanian wild, told the post-war world – against the cold science of the day – that primates communicated emotion, could agitate each other and males might rage, posture and bellow their displeasure. Reluctantly, she concluded that aggression was innate in both species, though aggressors did not often seem to last long.
Seven decades later, she still had a rueful twinkle in her eye over the similarities between certain male presidential politicians and their counterparts in the wilds of Africa.
The young pioneering scientist was to revolutionise the science of animal behaviour and cognition and redefine conservation. As a champion of climate activism, she had serious worries about the future of the planet in what she says is literally a war on nature itself.
Asked if there was anything she could have done over the years, what would it be? If she could, she said, she would send one of Musk’s rockets on a one-way trip into space, and in it, a handful of current global despots.
And what of the Gombe chimpanzees with their DNA that is 98 percent the same as our own? They must be her favourite animals? No she said with her signature twinkle. “They are too much like us.”
• Liz Waters
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