We all see something when we hear the name Jane Goodall. It may be a young woman, setting out into the untamed rainforest, after months of saving waitress cash underneath a rug. It may be a curious little girl who had a pet dog whom she loved even more than the books she read again and again. It may be an old woman, pleading for us to hear what years in the rainforest taught her. It may be a fiery spark of inspiration that this woman cared so deeply about our Earth that she carried hope for all of us to one day do the same. Maybe it’s a quick pain of regret or guilt that she spent her life fighting to preserve the natural beauty we take for granted, yet you still can’t find the time to sort your garbage from your recycling and reducing waste is a concept for when you are less exhausted, not a work day, some other time. Whatever it may be, there is one thing I think we all know, in some way.
Even for just a moment, even in the busiest day, the cold-coffee, rush-hour buzz that seems to grow and engulf our world, we can pause. Just for a moment. Just to look out at the tree that stands tall and green and alone in the city, and imagine what this place was once like. What the air smelled like, when all that could be heard was the whistle of the wind and the hum of clouds rolling over the mountains. Because it doesn’t matter what your stance on Jane Goodall was. It is a simple fact that we do not have the right and this earth does not have the privilege to forget her.
Jane Goodall left behind a legacy for us… a gift that opens doors. She did not only due this through her work with animals, researching chimpanzees in the wild of Gombe national park in Tanzania, or her mission to spread the word about what a life working with animals has taught her about what is important to protect. Jane Goodall also left us something tangible. The Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation. The Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation, or JGLF was established in 2017 with the goal of building an endowment to continue supporting programs relating to the Jane Goodall Institute, with the hope that the JGLF will fuel education, community outreach, research and conservation of our environment and the animals that inhabit it.
Perhaps one of Jane Goodall’s most hopeful achievements is establishing Roots and Shoots. Roots and Shoots is a club built around a hope for the next generation… a call to action for the future. The club is focused on youth building a better world through one main project to benefit either people, the planet, or animals. Jane Goodall made it clear that our planets health and future is dependent on the next generation of caretakers and the passion they have for their world. Her work sparked Roots and Shoots clubs across the world working, as Jane did, to make an impact on the situations in our world that they care about. Roots and Shoots is Jane Goodall’s symbol of trust and hope for young people in our world to take matters into their own hands and repair the damage done to this planet.
We can thank Jane for her tireless contributions to our world during her lifetime in many ways. It could be something small- like thinking about those who carry on her legacy as we go about our day-to-day business, or something larger like starting a Roots and Shoots club. We owe a lot of to Dame Jane Goodall and her achievements… but maybe the biggest thing we can do to honor the work Jane did for all of us is to continue her mission. Rather than going back to our lifestyle of plastic seeming to slip into the wrong bin when our eyes feel heavy with exhaustion… we can commit to what Jane Goodall committed to. To do the right thing, again and again, even in the smallest of ways. To put passion into what we do, whatever that may be. To make the world a better place every day… that is the hope of Jane Goodall’s legacy.
