As the iconic scientist and activist celebrates her 90th birthday, her message for younger generations is one of hope — and not fearing the next adventure. Jane Goodall’s legacy of empathy, curiosity, and courage continues to inspire millions around the world. As we celebrate her remarkable journey and enduring contributions to conservation, her story reminds us of the power of determination and compassion in creating a better future.
Discover the incredible impact of Jane Goodall’s work and learn how her legacy of empathy and courage continues to inspire and transform the world. Keep reading to explore her journey and the lessons she imparts.
Table of Contents
- Genres
- Review
- Recommendation
- Take-Aways
- Summary
- At age 90, Jane Goodall still seeks to inspire others to take action on behalf of animals and the environment.
- Working for Louis Leakey as a young researcher opened doors for Goodall, who established a new way to conduct animal field studies.
- Goodall left research to become an activist and advocate.
- Goodall continues to share her passion, hoping to ignite activism in her admirers.
- About the Author
Genres
Biography, Environmental Science, Animal Behavior, Conservation, Activism, Inspirational, Nature Writing, History, Women’s Studies, Science Communication.
Jane Goodall’s legacy, celebrated near her 90th birthday, highlights her transformative journey from a young scientist passionate about animals to an iconic conservationist and activist. Goodall’s early curiosity, supported by her mother, led her to groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Tanzania, where her empathetic approach revealed their complex social behaviors.
Her discoveries revolutionized our understanding of primates and spurred her to advocate for animal welfare and environmental conservation. Through her institute, Goodall continues to inspire global efforts in wildlife conservation and sustainable development, promoting a message of hope and resilience.
Review
Claire Elise Thompson’s article on Jane Goodall offers a heartfelt and comprehensive look at the life and legacy of this pioneering scientist. The narrative effectively captures Goodall’s enduring impact on environmentalism and her ability to inspire across generations.
The article is well-structured, balancing personal anecdotes with broader reflections on her scientific and advocacy work. Thompson’s writing is engaging and informative, making complex topics accessible to a broad audience. This piece is a fitting tribute to Jane Goodall’s extraordinary contributions and a valuable resource for anyone interested in conservation and activism.
Recommendation
When Jane Goodall decides to share her stories, she still packs auditoriums with people inspired by her activism. Covering a presentation Goodall made in Seattle in March 2024, Claire Elise Thompson of Grist magazine reports that Goodall, 90, remains a powerful advocate for animals and the environment. After more than 25 years of research in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, Goodall left in 1986 to harness her celebrity to fight the deforestation of Africa and cruelty in animal research. She continues to inspire audiences as she promises that the Jane Goodall Institute will keep spreading her message of involvement, activism, and optimism in the years to come.
Take-Aways
- At age 90, Jane Goodall still seeks to inspire others to take action on behalf of animals and the environment.
- Working for Louis Leakey as a young researcher opened doors for Goodall, who established a new way to conduct animal field studies.
- Goodall left research to become an activist and advocate.
- Goodall continues to share her passion, hoping to ignite activism in her admirers.
Summary
At age 90, Jane Goodall still seeks to inspire others to take action on behalf of animals and the environment.
Days away from her 90th birthday, Jane Goodall told an audience in Seattle on March 20, 2024, that everyone must unite to “make a difference.”
Echoing the energy of a music concert, the 1,800 people packed into the Moore Theater launched into singing Happy Birthday and gave Goodall a standing ovation as she entered. Their warmth led her to reflect on the “two Janes.” One is just a “small person,” she said, but the other is the “icon” they welcomed.
“Every single one of you has that indomitable spirit. But so many people don’t let it out. They don’t realize the power they have to influence and change the world. And so I’m saying to you, let your indomitable spirit make a difference.” (Jane Goodall)
Standing throughout her presentation, Goodall relayed stories of her life, praising her mother’s support for her “scientific curiosity.” She related a childhood incident as her first fieldwork. When her family visited a farm on vacation, she was given the job of collecting eggs. Curious about how a chicken lays an egg, she sat in the hen house watching for four hours before she returned to her worried mother. By then, Goodall said, she was covered with straw, ecstatically happy, and eager to tell her mother how a hen lays an egg.
Working for Louis Leakey as a young researcher opened doors for Goodall, who established a new way to conduct animal field studies.
Without funds for college, Goodall learned how to be a secretary and worked as a restaurant server to save money to travel to Africa to study wild animals. Eventually, she took a month-long journey from London to Kenya on a ship that sailed around Cape Town. In Kenya, she became a secretary for famed paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. He set up her first research excursion to study chimpanzees in their natural habitat in Tanzania, something no other researcher had done.
Goodall spent months patiently observing chimpanzees in what is now Gombe Stream National Park before she could draw close to the animals. Her willingness to wait until they no longer feared her and her painstaking methods led to findings that “rocked the scientific world.”
“They were the best days of my life…I just felt so at home in the forest.” (Jane Goodall)
Her controversial discoveries, presented in 1960, included findings that chimpanzees “make and use tools” like humans, have unique personalities, and engage in complicated social interactions, ranging from affection to altruism to violence.
These breakthroughs helped her garner funding for research that is still ongoing in what is now the longest such field study. Before returning to Gombe, she had to get a doctorate. Yet, when she began her studies at Cambridge University, her professors chastised her for practices they saw as unscientific, such as naming the chimps she studied instead of just giving them numbers, empathizing with them, and attributing humanlike “personalities, minds, or emotions” to them. She never argued, but she thought that was “rubbish.”
As her findings emerged, her work and the media attention she drew helped shift the public’s view of the natural world.
Goodall left research to become an activist and advocate.
In 1986, Goodall attended a conference that changed the direction of her life. Instead of returning to Gombe, she realized she had to help stop widespread deforestation in Africa and the “cruel treatment” of chimps used in research.
“I went to that conference as a scientist, planning to spend the rest of my life in Gombe. But I left as an activist. I knew I had to do something.” (Jane Goodall)
She became a speaker and activist, using her celebrity to gain access to decision-makers and to motivate people to take action. In 2015, due in part to her efforts, the US National Institutes of Health stopped using chimpanzees for invasive biomedical research. She established the Jane Goodall Institute which takes a “community-centered approach” to conserving and restoring natural habitats. The Institute, which takes a long view, hopes to continue inspiring people to action.
Goodall has no plans to retire; she plans to continue traveling and speaking while she can. Yet, Anna Rathmann, head of the Jane Goodall Institute, acknowledges that when journalists ask Goodall about her “next adventure,” after a pause, she says, “My next great adventure will be death.” Rathmann sees that answer as evoking both Goodall’s abiding curiosity and her courage.
“The youth activists and the younger people…see her as this mother earth elder figure. They see her for the wisdom that she represents. And I think that’s really powerful.” (Anna Rathmann)
Although the world is facing “a long, very, very dark tunnel” given climate change, the loss of biodiversity, injustice, poverty, and war, Goodall still sees a “little shining star” of hope. In her eyes, everyone needs to help society reach that star. Although she clearly sees massive challenges, Goodall doesn’t belabor the negatives. Instead, she uses her deep expertise and gentle demeanor to connect emotionally with audiences, advocate effectively, and share her beliefs in “hope, tenacity, and our duty to the future.”
About the Author
Claire Elise Thompson is an Associate Editor at Grist magazine, a nonprofit media company focused on covering climate change and advocating for environmental accountability.