These children in Masindi, Uganda, have an active Roots & Shoots program at their school.
THE HOPE
SINCE 1986, DR. GOODALL HAS NOT STAYED IN ANY ONE PLACE LONGER THAN THREE WEEKS, AND SHE HAS BEEN ON THE ROAD SOME THREE HUNDRED DAYS A YEAR. WHEN NOT AT HER HOME IN ENGLAND, HER DAYS ARE SPENT ON AIRPLANES, TRAVELING TO SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, RECEPTIONS, AND PRESS CONFERENCES, AND LOBBYING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSES. IT WAS HEARTBREAKING FOR DR. GOODALL TO LEAVE HER PARADISE AT GOMBE, BUT SHE KNOWS THAT WHAT SHE IS DOING NOW IS MORE IMPORTANT.
Schoolchildren in the Republic of the Congo learn about chimpanzees and the importance of protecting them.
Jane Goodall and Roots & Shoots members at the Singapore American School plant a nutmeg tree.
THROUGH JANE’S WORK WITH CHIMPANZEES, WE LEARNED THAT HUMANS ARE NOT AS DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF THE ANIMAL WORLD AS WE ONCE BELIEVED, AND THAT WE ARE NOT THE ONLY BEINGS CAPABLE OF RATIONAL THOUGHT, OF EMOTIONS, AND OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL SUFFERING. ONCE WE ACCEPT THAT ANIMALS DO INDEED SUFFER, WE MUST BEGIN TO SCRUTINIZE THE WAY IN WHICH WE TREAT ALL ANIMALS, HUMAN AND NONHUMAN ALIKE, AS WELL AS THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THEY LIVE.
In celebration of thirty years of chimpanzee research, Jane invited a select group of students to her house in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. After talking about chimpanzee behavior and other experiences in Africa, Jane spoke about the problems, such as poaching, dynamite fishing, and cruelty to animals.
“How do you feel when you see chickens carried upside down, or by their wings held behind their backs?” Jane asked the students gathered around her verandah. She was referring to the way in which chickens are typically taken to market in Africa.
The students responded with compassion. Although the chicken is going to die, to become someone’s supper, they replied, while the animal still lives we should treat it with respect. That was the response Jane had hoped for—a recognition that every individual matters, human and nonhuman alike, and that every individual deserves our compassion.
The young people decided to go back to their schools and start clubs to help reduce animal cruelty and address environmental problems. And so, in 1991, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots was born. The name is symbolic. The first pale roots and shoots of a germinating seed look so tiny and fragile; it’s hard to believe it can grow into a big tree. Yet there is so much life force in that seed that the roots can work their way through boulders to reach the water, and the shoot can work its way through cracks in a brick wall to reach the sunlight. Eventually the boulders and the wall—all the harm, environmental and social, that has resulted from our greed, cruelty, and lack of understanding—will be pushed aside. And hundreds and thousands of roots and shoots, representing the youth of the world, can solve many of the problems their elders have created for them.
Since the program’s inception, Roots & Shoots groups have sprung up throughout Tanzania and in more than 120 countries around the world. Tens of thousands of young people from preschool through university are involved. Roots & Shoots members are young people determined to make a difference, prepared to roll up their sleeves and take action, to walk the talk. It is a youth-driven program: The young people themselves discuss local problems and decide what they can do to try to solve them. They choose projects that show care and compassion for the human community, animals (including domestic animals), and the environment. Their projects vary depending on the nature of the problems and the age of the members, their culture, whether they are from inner-city or rural environments, and which country they come from.
ROOTS & SHOOTS MEMBERS ARE YOUNG PEOPLE DETERMINED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, PREPARED TO ROLL UP THEIR SLEEVES AND
TAKE ACTION, TO WALK THE TALK.
Students in the Kibale Environmental Education Program (K.E.E.P.) participate in a clean-up project. The program aims to educate primary school students about the Kibale National Park in Uganda, where they live.
JGI’s youth programs are dedicated to the belief that young people, when informed and empowered, can indeed change the world.
Projects range from cleaning a stream in Oregon, planting trees in Tanzania, walking a neighbor’s dog in Minnesota, visiting children in a hospital in South Africa, and enriching the lives of zoo chimps in Shanghai. But they all learn about the interconnectedness and interdependence of life on earth.
Jane has become increasingly excited by the energy of young people, the huge potential of the program, and the hope for the future. She sees that attitudes and generations-old practices are changing through the power of the world’s youth.
“I think Roots & Shoots is probably the reason I came into the world,” Jane says. “Yet I couldn’t have done it without all those years with the chimpanzees and an understanding that led to a blurring of the line between ‘man’ and ‘beast.’ Children give me particular hope because they have more open minds. They aren’t as set in their ways. Only if children grow up with respect for all living things will the planet have a chance for survival.
“We need to ensure a critical mass of young people who understand that money is not everything. We need money to live; we should never live for money. It is when these individuals move into adult positions of decision-making that the world will change.”
“THE GREATEST DANGER TO OUR PLANET IS THAT WE LOSE HOPE,” JANE SAYS. “WITHOUT HOPE, WE GIVE UP, STOP TRYING TO DO OUR BIT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.” IN SPITE OF ALL THE PROBLEMS WE FACE TODAY, JANE’S PERSISTENT MESSAGE IS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF HOPE. BELOW ARE JANE’S FOUR REASONS FOR HOPE.
THE HUMAN BRAIN
Think of all we’ve accomplished as a species. We found cures for so many diseases; we flew men to the moon. And we have at last begun to face the problems that threaten our survival. Surely we can use our quite extraordinary problem-solving abilities, our brains, to find ways to live in harmony with nature, to develop more sustainable societies.
THE RESILIENCE OF NATURE
My second reason for hope is the incredible resilience of nature. I have visited Nagasaki, the site of the second atomic bomb that ended World War II. Scientists had predicted that nothing could grow there for at least thirty years. But, amazingly, greenery grew quickly. One sapling actually managed to survive the bombing, and today it’s a large tree, with great cracks and fissures, all black inside; but that tree still produces leaves. I’ve seen such renewals time and again, including animal species brought back from the brink of extinction.
THE DETERMINATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE
My third reason for hope lies in the tremendous energy and commitment of young people around the world. I meet so many young people with shining eyes who want to tell Dr. Jane what they’ve been doing, how they are making a difference in their communities. Whether it’s something simple like recycling or collecting trash, something that requires a lot of effort, like restoring a wetland or a prairie, or whether it’s raising money for the local dog shelter or victims of an earthquake in a faraway country, they are getting things done. Young people—their spirit and determination—are my greatest source of hope. We should never underestimate the power of determined young people to bring about change. We only have to give them the knowledge and the tools.
THE INDOMITABLE HUMAN SPIRIT
My final reason for hope lies in the indomitable nature of the human spirit. There are so many people who have dreamed seemingly unattainable dreams and, because they never gave up, achieved their goals against all odds, or blazed a path along which others could follow. As I travel around the world, I meet so many incredible and amazing human beings. They inspire me. They inspire those around them.
When Jane became a United Nations Messenger of Peace, she encouraged Roots & Shoots members everywhere to make giant peace doves and fly them in support of the UN’s International Day of Peace. Each year the doves fly in countries around the world. Here, a dove soars near the Teton Mountains in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Roots & Shoots members take action all over the world through service projects that are as varied as young people’s imaginations. Here, Jane attends a Friendship Meeting with children and teachers from the Ryul Gok Middle School in Pyongyang, North Korea.
U.S. Roots & Shoots Youth Leadership members David Shorna (center) and Alessandra Phelan-Roberts (right) help a Roots & Shoots friend plant a tree in Moshi, Tanzania.
Villagers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo embody the indomitable human spirit—one of Jane’s four reasons for hope.
Jane walks on stage to the applause of 52,000 people at the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
It’s been fifty years since Jane Goodall first set foot on a lakeshore in Tanzania to begin her study of chimpanzees. With patience and determination, she managed to open a window onto the daily lives and dramas of our closest living relatives and was rewarded with the public’s passionate interest in her subject. When the dire plight of chimpanzees became apparent, she knew she had to try to save them. Today, Jane and her staff at the Jane Goodall Institute are determined that your grandchildren will be able to see chimpanzees thriving in the wild. They work with an array of global partners to preserve chimpanzees—and their precious forest habitat—in concert with efforts to reduce poverty and to help African communities meet basic needs such as education, health care, clean water, and arable land.
Jane and her staff also support youth action, through the global Roots & Shoots program, because ultimately young people are the ones who will have the task of restoring vitality to the damaged environment. Informed and empowered youth have the optimism, the idealism, and the energy.
As Jane’s global profile continues to grow (she became a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2002, was named a Dame of the British Empire in 2004, and in 2006 received the French Legion of Honor), global offices of the Jane Goodall Institute sprout up around the world—residing in more than twenty-five countries as of 2010. These offices, some staffed entirely by volunteers, all work together to support Jane and help realize her vision for a better world.
It is an amazing legacy for one who, in her youth, simply dreamed of living with the animals and writing books about them. Thank goodness Jane never gave up on that dream. The chimpanzees face many challenges, but they could not ask for a more determined or inspiring champion.
Caged alone for years in an African zoo, a male chimpanzee reaches to touch a rare, understanding stranger: Jane Goodall.
Young people, such as these children walking happily near the Ngamba Island Sanctuary in Uganda, are Jane’s hope for the future.
“So, let us move forward with faith in ourselves, in our intelligence, in our indomitable spirit. Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.”
— JANE GOODALL
