Jane Goodall spent her whole life observing and defending wildlife. She's now 84 and hasn't stopped fighting to save the planet. Here is her message of hope...
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00Hello to all of you at Brood, and I hope that together we can make the world a better place.
00:08So please join us and do your bit.
00:22The wildlife situation in the world is awful.
00:26Poaching is going on unabated with African elephants and rhinos,
00:31and the pangolins around the world and the tigers in Asia.
00:35And there's trophy hunting where people go and shoot beautiful animals for fun,
00:41and they think the money is going to go for conservation efforts,
00:44but in fact most of it goes into corrupt officials' pockets.
00:49We've been privileged to spend days, weeks, out in the rainforest,
00:56and when you're in the rainforest you get this understanding of how all life forms are interconnected,
01:02and each little species may seem insignificant,
01:06but it has a role to play in this great tapestry of life.
01:11And it's understanding the interconnectedness of all living things,
01:16of all problems, of all peoples, that make one understand how desperately important it is
01:22that we all do our part, whatever we can,
01:25even if it's saving just one little species that's going to be important.
01:34I've got five reasons for hope.
01:37First of all, the young people, once they understand the problems and we empower them to take action,
01:43they are, as we speak, changing the world.
01:46Secondly, the human brain, we have an extraordinary intellect,
01:50and although we haven't used it very wisely,
01:53now people are coming up with ideas to heal some of the harm that we've inflicted,
01:59clean green energy, for example.
02:02Third is the resilience of nature, places that we've destroyed,
02:06give them time and a bit of help sometimes,
02:09and nature will once again restore a habitat,
02:13and animals on the brink of extinction can be given another chance.
02:17Fourth is social media.
02:20For the first time in human history, we can bring people together from all around the world
02:25to raise their voices in protest at climate change, the use of coal, that sort of thing.
02:32And finally, the indomitable human spirit,
02:36the people who tackle what seems impossible and won't give up and so often succeed.
02:42You know, the big problem is that more people are aware of the problems we've created,
02:47but they feel helpless, hopeless, and that there's nothing they can do,
02:51so they give up, lose hope.
02:54I want to tell people every single one of us is important,
02:58every single one of us has a role to play, even if we don't quite know what it is,
03:03but most important of all, every single one of us makes some impact on the planet every single day,
03:10and we have a choice what sort of difference we're going to make today.