Jane Goodall gave us a new view on all life
Camping out with chimps in their habitat allowed the conservationist to show humans their responsibilities for nature and to see a 鈥渟piritual power鈥� beyond scientific knowledge.
Jane Goodall observes a chimpanzee on a visit back to Gombe National Park in Tanzania.
AP/Animal Planet, Michael Neugebauer/file
Like a great ape, we鈥檙e going to go out on a limb and say that Jane Goodall ranks high on the list of people who have altered for the better the human relationship with nature. She did so less by words of warning than by insights on the shared and often unique qualities of chimpanzees in their African habitat. Her legacy, as both a primatologist and conservationist, lies in her abiding focus on a better appreciation of the natural world, instead of an apprehension over its predicted demise.
Around the planet, not just in a Tanzanian rainforest, Dr. Goodall saw delight more than dread, bonds over breaches. Without being pantheistic or sentimental, this British scientist, who died this week, spoke of a 鈥渟piritual power鈥� that chimps and humans each express in, say, community compassion, while not neglecting their violent acts. Her patient observations of chimp behavior 鈥渋n the wild鈥� helped lift an understanding of life as more than material. She changed the way many people witness other living things each day, be it squirrel or bee.
Her work stands alongside that of Rachel Carson or John Muir in expanding concepts about intelligence beyond what humans think of that word. She prepared us for difficult discussions about the impact and possibilities of artificial intelligence. During the pandemic, with all its fears of a virus, her insights on learning to understand nature 鈥� before trying to exploit or obliterate it 鈥� expanded the path to some sort of harmonious equilibrium with all of Earth鈥檚 expressions, from climate to chimps.
鈥淚 hope we are going to learn a new relationship with the natural world, of which we are part and on which we depend for our very existence,鈥� Dr. Goodall told the John Templeton Foundation in 2021.
In 1991, she started the global Roots & Shoots program to help young people achieve compassionate influence in their communities. 鈥淚 have learned more about the two sides of human nature, and I am convinced that there are more good than bad people,鈥� she said in accepting the Templeton Prize.
鈥淚 am eternally thankful that my curiosity and desire to learn is as strong as when I was a child. And that I understand that the deep mysteries of life are forever beyond scientific knowledge. That 鈥榥ow we see through a glass darkly; then face to face.鈥欌��