I think if I'd thought of the life I'm living now, I would have said, okay, I'm going to
do something else all together, I would keep and go, no, I just wanted to be out in the
forest.
This is utterly different from anything I ever wanted to do.
Jane Goodall began her career as a primatologist, earning fame and changing the way we view
our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.
In 1986, she abruptly changed focus to push for environmental protection.
Since then, she's been traveling 300 days a year, spreading her message.
At the end of a day where you've met dozens of groups, do you feel exhausted, ensues by
what you've been able to do?
I mean, what's the feeling at the end of one of these very old days?
Totally exhausted.
You know, especially after a big lecture in America, there are often 5,000 people, and
then you do book signing for maybe two and a half hours, but the lecturing drains everything
out.
I always feel tired and cold, but the book signing, it's like a closure, so people say,
why don't you cut the book signing, because people come up after the lecture, and I can
see that they've been inspired, and you know, they'll come up and say, well, because of
you, I became a biologist, or you've renewed my hope.
After 21 years of roots and shoots, do you think it's really made a difference?
Oh, I know it's made a difference.
It's made a difference in two ways.
It actually is restoring landscapes, helping animals and people.
It really is.
And then on the other hand, it's empowering young people, and I've seen children who were
just, you know, ordinary children with no aspirations at all, perhaps living in a rural
area or in the inner city, and they became empowered.
They stood up tall and straight, and they suddenly realized, yes, I do matter.
I can make a difference, and I will.
And some of them have.
Jane's visit to Shanghai this month coincides with celebrations at the conclusion of a project
organized by Shanghai Roots and Shoots to plant one million trees as a natural barrier at
the desert's edge in northern China.
Volunteers from around the world, as well as corporations and local communities pitched
in to plant trees.
The millionth tree was planted this summer, two years ahead of schedule.
What can other grassroots NGOs learn from the million tree project?
I think the main thing is that sometimes a project seems very big, and people are daunted
by it.
But if enough people become involved and you persist and you don't give up, that goals
can be achieved.
It's happening all over the world.
In some cases, entire ecosystems that have been destroyed can be restored, and one of
the best examples of that is the lowest plateau in China, of near the Tibetan border, was
one of the most totally destroyed, big ecosystems in the world.
And now, if you look at it, you would never guess.
What do you say to people who say that we're already past the tipping point environmentally?
Well, I say that I don't agree with them, I think we're close.
I do think we're close.
If we have the human brain coupled with the human heart, we're capable of extraordinary,
extraordinary feats.
I mean, just think, upon Mars, there's a little robot, which we put there, and it's crawling
around taking photos.
It's unbelievable.
When I was young, that would have been way beyond the wildest dreams of science fiction.
And yet we've done it, and one thing's for sure, those pictures make it very clear that
nobody really wants to go and live on Mars, and we better look after this planet a bit
better.
So those are two reasons for hope, the brain and the energy of youth, and thirdly, the
resilience of nature, the places that have been destroyed by us, that can be restored,
animal species on the brink of extinction, that can be given another chance.
The brain is 78.
Even with the best will in the world, she cannot be the face of environmental protection
for another two decades.
At some point, she'll have to step aside.
How many more years do you think you can keep up this level of commitment?
How could I possibly answer that?
Again, we don't know what's going to happen to our health, I have no idea.
Could be, I mean, one of my planes might crash on this tour, you just don't know.
If I were to drop down dead tomorrow or tonight, I know that roots and shoots would carry on,
I know that there would be passionate young people who would carry on bearing the torch.
That must be quite a comfort.
Thank you.
