Remembering Jane Goodall Hi everyone,
My name is Sophie, and I recently joined Living on Earth as an editorial intern. As Living on Earth joins the world in mourning the loss of primatologist, conservationist, and humanitarian Dr. Jane Goodall, I wanted to share how her recent passing has compelled me to reflect on a chapter of my own life.
As a child, I remember learning of Dr. Goodall’s experiences living among chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania, during which she observed apes displaying behaviors previously thought to be uniquely human. After her breakthrough discovery in 1960 – that chimps create and use tools – she continued to document similarities between chimpanzees and humankind. Through her fieldwork, Goodall observed that, like us, chimpanzees are sentient, intelligent, social beings who show compassion and experience emotions like joy and grief. By immersing herself fully in their world, she taught us that we are not alone in our ability to form strong family bonds and friendships, nor in our tendency to wage war against our enemies.
I’ve witnessed primates display many of these behaviors firsthand. Before I got my start in journalism, a combination of my educational background and lifelong love of animals landed me in behavioral research laboratories where I spent several years working very closely with monkeys. I saw that monkeys can learn to complete complex tasks, discriminate between their favorite foods, and even maim one another in a bloody competition to win the title of alpha female. The context for my work was utterly different, and yet, I thought of Jane Goodall often. She was there between the high-pitched shrieks of excitement from a baby marmoset learning to pick up a live mealworm for the first time. I thought of her work as I watched a cotton-top tamarin monkey bring fruit to an aging female too weak to gather her own and, later, as he called out for her, repeatedly, in sadness and confusion after the older monkey’s death.
As a young women trailblazing the male-dominated field of primatology research, Jane Goodall had to fight back hard against those who told her that scientists must be coldly objective. She argued that not only was it possible to be both scientifically accurate and empathetic to the animals she studied, but that it was, in fact, a strength. My own deep empathy for animals, which had drawn me to work with them initially, positioned me to advocate for their improved well-being, always pushing for measures that would increase their joy and minimize their pain. That same empathy was also why I declined to continue working with the lab as it transitioned to more invasive research procedures. I left the field in search of something more aligned with my belief that all living beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, a value no doubt informed by Goodall’s revelations and perseverance.
But Jane Goodall’s legacy stretches far beyond her ground-breaking scientific findings. Perhaps her greatest contributions to the world can be found in her conservation and humanitarian efforts. The last time Jane Goodall was interviewed on Living on Earth in 2023, she told us that she started her youth conservation program back in 1991, Roots and Shoots, because many young people were losing hope about our world, angered by older generations compromising their future and feeling hopeless and apathetic. “Well, we have compromised their future,” she begins, “in fact we’ve been stealing it, we still are.” But she showed them that hope was not yet lost. “There’s a window of time, if we get together, we can start to heal some of the scars we’ve inflicted on poor old planet Earth, slow down climate change, slow down loss of biodiversity.” For nearly 35 years, Jane Goodall shared this message with millions of people around the world, galvanizing the youth conservation movement then and now.
I fear that this window is shrinking. Though we will miss the kindness and humanity she showed as a leader in this movement, this isn’t a time for slowing down our efforts. There is still so much work to be done. For me, to celebrate Jane Goodall is not only to reflect on her remarkable past but to challenge ourselves to create a more sustainable future for our planet, one that honors her lifelong commitment to the dignity of all living beings and actualizes her harmonious vision for our natural world.
Jane Goodall once said that “Every single one of us makes a difference every day – it is up to us as to the kind of difference we make.” I strive to live by these words and honor her legacy.
With deep gratitude, Sophie Bokor
