September 19, 2017, I drove through a storm up to the University of Rhode Island in North Kingston for what was about to be one of the most memorable moments of my life. My professor, Dr. Mary Baker, a Biological Anthropologist at Rhode Island College, gave me and several others an opportunity to see Jane Goodall. We sat only a 40 feet or so away from one of my biggest idols, a woman who had created a new idea about non-human primates and who we are as humans in relation. She was on her Tomorrow & Beyond Tour.
Jane spoke about how her mother was so incredibly helpful with her dreams as an Anthropologist and all the courageous things she did for Dr. Goodall so that she could do her studies and end up where she is today. Jane talked about how she got to where she is today, all of the people that impacted her life and helped her get here. But she also talked about the position that the Environment and what is happening to the animals that live in the forests of the world. Not only was her focus on Chimpanzees and how they are so important to us since they are one of our closest relatives, but the importance of rats, cows, and so on.
"When you work in the forest, it's easy to see that everything's connected," Goodall explained. We as humans are one part of a large ecosystem that works together to keep our home, the Earth, alive and well. After all of the research that Jane did on non-human primates, she realized how important it is to keep the world alive so we can inhabit it for the next generation and so on. Thus, Jane created the Jane Goodall Institute.
The Jane Goodall Institute helps create a hope for the Environment. Researchers go to places all over the world, spreading awareness and educating young and old about what is happening to the world, what could happen, and how we all can make a difference and better the environment for ALL to live in. One of the programs they created is called Roots and Shoots. It encourages the youth to problem solve ways that better the environment and help protect the chimpanzees. She also houses many young chimpanzees who have been orphaned because of the hunting and selling of many chimpanzee mothers.
Her final message to the hundreds of children, parents, students, and elders that sat before her was that we, all over the world, should come together and help make a difference. Whether it is the small things we do in our own household, like avoiding the use of peanut oil, or local things we can participate in like planting trees in local areas, we are making a difference and we are bettering the world every day! It is important that we spread a message of hope globally. We are so vulnerable to this idea of "it's too late," we think the world is already doomed there is nothing we can do. But Jane Goodall has been traveling the world since the '80's telling many many people that we aren't doomed. She sees a difference in the environment. She sees hope for our home. She knows that spreading this hope will inspire many that it isn't too late, we all across the world can and will make the environment a much better place. We should leave the world better than how we found it for the generations to come. Have hope, have motivation, and make the world a better place for all of those who inhabit it.
