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Jane Goodall shares her secrets on how to lead a full life

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Primatologist and anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall, 86, has lived an incredible life that's been defined by her ability to bridge the gap between humans and the animal kingdom.

Most notably, her work studying chimpanzees up-close in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania from 1960 to 1975 changed how people perceive what it is to be human and chimpanzee.

After documenting chimpanzees using tools in 1961, the discovery was so Earth-shattering it prompted her mentor, anthropologist, and paleontologist, Dr. Louis Leakey, to make the bold proclamation: "Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans."

Since she has gone on to found the Jane Goodall Institute UK and the Roots & Shoots program where tens of thousands of children in 100 countries work together to make the world a better place.

Her monumental accomplishments are even more incredible being that she began her career at a time when women faced an uphill battle in the world of science, and many dissuaded her from going into the jungle.

"Everybody laughed at me and said that I'd never get there. It was far away, we didn't have money, and I was just a girl," she told our partner site, GOOD, last year.

In a recent profile for theWall Street Journal, Goodall was asked her advice for those who wish to follow in her footsteps by going where they've been told they shouldn't.

"Follow your dream, follow your passion, do what you're passionate about. When I dreamed of Africa when I was 10 years old, everybody laughed at me: How will you get by? You don't have money. (It was wartime.)You're just a girl," Goodall said.

But she had incredible support from her mother, who probably had no idea at the time that her prodding would help inspire generations of women and scientists to push boundaries.

"Mum said, 'If you really want something like this, you'll have to work terribly hard. You'll have to take advantage of all opportunities. And if you don't give up, maybe you'll find a way,'" Goodall recalled.

via Sommer in Hamburg / Flickr

As someone who was told to know her place in the world, her advice is important for those who are told they cannot achieve their dreams because of who they are.

"That's the message I take to young people all around the world, particularly in deprived areas," she added. "So many people have said or written, Jane, I want to thank you because you taught me, because you did this, I can do it too — meaning follow your dreams."

Now, for the rest of us who may not want to spend decades alone in the jungle observing nature, Goodall has advice on how everyone can help make the planet a better place.

"Every single day we live, we make some impact on the planet and we need to make ethical choices, thinking about the consequences on future generations," she told GOOD. "What do we buy, eat, wear? Where did it come from? That will start moving us towards a better world."

After 86 years of being on one of the most incredible adventures of the past century, Goodall seems to have two ideas that she believes are paramount: persistence and consciousness.

She believes everyone should be persistent in the pursuit of their dreams while also living a conscious life, focusing on how their day-to-day decisions have an impact on the future of the planet.

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Heroes

Jane Goodall, along with 30 other world leaders, tells us not to lose hope over deforestation.

"Deforestation is changing our climate, harming people and the natural world. We must, and can, reverse this trend."

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Unilever and the United Nations

Would you destroy your own grocery store?

1.6 billion people worldwide depend on forests to live.

"Most of the indigenous peoples in Indonesia — their lives depend on the forest. The forest is their supermarket," said Abdon Nababan, Secretary General of Indigenous Peoples Groups Indonesia.

All GIFs via Avoided Deforestation Partners/YouTube.

And every piece of forest lost to burning and logging is like another aisle gone from the store for them.

That's one of the key messages 30 world leaders have come together to promote in a new video from Avoided Deforestation Partners. Former prime ministers and presidents, international CEOs ... they all want to see an end to deforestation.

Because at the rate we're going now, rain forests might be gone by the end of this century.

We've already lost half of our tropical forests. Cutting down trees to make room for cattle or other kinds of agriculture is the biggest problem, but logging clears massive areas of forest too.

If deforestation continues unabated, millions of people who have lived with the forests for generations will lose their livelihoods and their homes.

Not to mention all the animals and plant species that will be lost.

It may even have ripple effects far beyond the borders of the tropics as rainfall patterns change. People will have to deal with new droughts, storms, and food shortages.

"That means a lot more risk to human health," said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, "devastating consequences for coastal communities and infrastructure, massive effects and impacts on the most vulnerable populations."

But this is actually a message of hope.

We have an amazing opportunity here.

"If we do protect the forests, it is the single quickest, biggest thing we can do to mitigate climate change," said Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

We don't need new technology or some sort of crazy geo-engineering to accomplish this. Countries around the world are already taking steps to protect their forests and the people who depend on them. We just need the collective will to extend these protections around the globe.

We have an amazing opportunity here.

"The destruction of our forests is terrifying," said Jane Goodall, "Deforestation is changing our climate, harming people and the natural world. We must, and can, reverse this trend. The time to stand together and ask more leaders to stop the madness is now."

There's time enough, but none to spare. Watch the full thing below.

Listen to Goodall narrate this fascinating and thought-provoking video:

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6 spot-on things Jane Goodall said about inequality and saving the planet.

Jane Goodall is one incredible woman.

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Discovery - Racing Extinction

You wouldn't expect Jane Goodall, who is basically the human form of Mother Earth, to talk about Mars.

But she makes a good point.

"The photographs obtained by that little robot that's crawling around the surface of Mars makes it very clear that the planet is not a hospitable environment for human colonization," the eco-octogenarian said during a recent speech at U.S. Department of State.

"We have to make do with planet Earth, and planet Earth has finite natural resources."


The red planet was just one of many unexpected topics Goodall talked about that didn't involve chimpanzees (except they all totally kind of do, in a way).

Here are six telling quotes from her speech that put a ton of big thoughts into perspective.

1. First and foremost, Goodall laid out how absurd it is that humans are even capable of ruining the planet.

Because when you think about it, it's the epitome of self-destruction.

Photo via Erik (HASH) Hersman/Flickr.

“How is it possible that the most intellectual creature to ever walk planet Earth is destroying its only home?"

As we mentioned, she brought up the fact our ventures to Mars have confirmed the red planet is not, in fact, a hospitable one for human life. And that means "we have to make do with planet Earth."

2. She told white folks that they gotta slow their roll when they want to help other places.

Throughout her speech, Goodall frequently discussed the success of her institute's TACARE program that, since its inception, has focused on listening to local communities first and then working with them to make better food, education, and health initiatives.

Photo by Nick Step/Flickr.

Unfortunately, that's not the same approach other aid groups have taken.

TACARE "began not in the way that so much well-intentioned but unfortunate aid has been delivered," she said. "It wasn't a bunch of white people arrogantly going out to these villages and telling them what we were going to do to make their lives better."

3. Goodall explained how her institute connected the dots between fighting poverty and fighting for the environment.

Because, in many respects, they're actually the same fight.

Photo via Festival della Scienza/Flickr.

Goodall explained to NPR how the correlation between financial desperation and environmental recklessness became increasingly clear in Tanzania, as there was "no way we can even attempt to save these precious Gombe chimpanzees" unless the needs of the people were met first.

As those people in Gombe were too poor to buy food, they were forced to cut down trees for money; their families needed to survive. This, in turn, destroyed the same forests chimpanzees depend on.

“Poverty is a huge force in the destruction of the environment, because when you're very poor, you're going to cut down the last trees in order to grow food to feed your family."

4. But poverty wasn't the only factor affecting Tanzania's forests. Gender equality, believe it or not, played a role too.

The correlation between empowering women and saving the environment may not be the most obvious. But Goodall detailed how her institute's work helping women in Gombe ended up saving trees (and her chimps' home).

Photo via Franz Johann Morgenbesser/Flickr.

After gaining the communities' trust, TACARE began prioritizing women's reproductive health and family planning services — a move that was "well-received by the villagers" because they, too, realized a growing population was leading to damaged farmland and unsustainable growth.

Family sizes needed to decrease. It was vital.

"The reason all the trees had gone, the reason the land was overused, was the sheer numbers of people."

The Jane Goodall Institute began helping girls and women access education through scholarships. As Goodall referenced in her speech, providing girls and women with access to an education has been a proven method in shrinking family sizes across the globe.

5. If you believe every person truly matters, the world can change. Just ask young people.

“Everywhere I go, there are young people with shining eyes, wanting to tell Dr. Jane what they've been doing to make the world a better place," she explained at the Department of State. That, she said, keeps her optimistic.

Goodall's Roots & Shoots program, aimed at getting youth involved in the protection of the Earth and its people, has expanded greatly since launching in 1991. Beginning with just 12 students in Tanzania, the program now works in 140 countries around the world.

Its fundamental message? “Every single individual matters," Goodall said during her speech. "Every single individual makes a difference, every day."



6. Because of both the human and environmental progress she's witnessed through her own institute, Goodall has high hopes for the future.

And it really all comes down to people.


Photo via Kafka4prez/Flickr.

“That indomitable human spirit — that's in every single one of us."

She's got a point. We humans really are one-of-a-kind.

As Goodall expressed so well, each one of us has the power to produce change.

And it can start with just one click. You can learn more about and support the Jane Goodall Institute by visiting the organization's website.

Watch Goodall's speech in front of the Department of State below:

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