Young people offer hope for a better world, Goodall says

Goodall told how, at a very young age, she had been fascinated by animals and how her dreams led her to a lifelong study of the chimpanzees in Tanzania. People tried to discourage her, but Goodall credits her mother with supporting her dreams. And she received support from anthropologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey, who was looking for someone to study chimps -- not only to better understand them but also to gain insight into human beings.

At first, the chimps fled from her, but gradually they allowed her to come close enough to observe them. When she saw two chimps strip leaves off twigs to make tools for getting termites out of a nest, it was “a groundbreaking discovery,” she says. “Back then, man was the toolmaker.”

Goodall also learned chimps share other characteristics with humans: They have a long childhood, imitate others, form long-term bonds with family members, have a compassionate nature, and are willing to risk their lives to save others. And, she says, “they have a dark side of brutality and violence.”

Goodall’s work evolved into environmental activism in the 1980s when the destruction of the forests began to decimate the population of chimpanzees and other animals.

Goodall travels an average of 300 days a year to visit schools and talk about her Roots and Shoots education program, which supports service learning projects to benefit animals, people, and the environment. The program consists of 8,000 active groups of young people in 90 countries.

“Some of the students I meet are depressed -- near suicidal -- because they have lost hope in the future,” she says. “They live with poverty, crime, war, and terrorism.”

“The world is on a downward spiral, but it’s not too late,” Goodall says. “The human spirit will not allow people to give up. Many lead lives of shining inspiration.”

“What we possess that animals don’t is a sophisticated language, which means we can discuss ideas, teach our children, and plan for a distant future,” instead of just focusing on making a profit for today, she says.

“While we have become woefully destructive with our one and only planet, nature is resilient,” she says. Through changes in consumer action, life decisions, and activism, “things can once again become beautiful.”

“The energy, commitment, passion, and courage of young people” is a great resource of hope, she says.