Master Class
Last updated: Aug 23, 2021 • 5 min read
Between air pollution and the depletion of natural resources, humans are negatively impacting the environment more and more each day. As the human population expands and more countries move towards a consumerist culture, large areas of the earth face a devastating loss of ancient natural environments, species, and water—just to name a few. Climate change—which is occuring due to over dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels, water pollution, the destruction of the ozone layer, and soil erosion loom—threatens the way we live our lives.
Anthropologist and environment activist Dr. Jane Goodall—best known for her work with wild chimpanzees in Africa—wants us all to sit up and do something about it.
How Dr. Goodall Became an Environmental Activist
Dr. Goodall knows the moment when she changed from scientist to activist. The year was 1986, and Dr. Goodall had published a book called Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. The head of the Chicago Academy of Sciences told Dr. Goodall that her book warranted a conference, so they held one.
At the conference, scientists talked about different aspects of chimp behavior in different areas and their various habitats and cultures. There was one session on conservation, however, that opened Dr. Goodall’s eyes. What she learned in the conservation lectures was appalling. Scientists showed slides and movies of the destruction of forest habitats. They had data that showed declining chimpanzee numbers. They discussed another problem, the bushmeat trade, which is the commercial hunting of wild animals for food. Chimp mothers were shot so that their babies could be stolen to sell for entertainment, to circuses and zoos for medical research.
At the same conference there was also a session about the living conditions of captive chimps. Dr. Goodall learned about the very cruel training of chimps used in entertainment. She watched secretly filmed footage of chimpanzees in medical research laboratories. The bare cages surrounded by bars in which the chimps were kept were only five feet by five feet. After seeing these images, Dr. Goodall couldn’t sleep for nights. She didn’t know it yet, but she would leave that conference an activist.
“I went to that conference as a scientist with a wonderful life, planning to go on studying chimpanzees in Gombe and without making any conscious decision, I left as an activist,” Dr. Goodall says. “Because I knew I had to try and do something for these chimpanzees who had already given me so much.”
Negative Environmental Impact on Humans and the Earth
In addition to learning about the atrocities chimps faced, Dr. Goodall was also discovering the problems faced by humans living near chimp habitats. These people were challenged by poverty, hunger, a lack of education and health care, competition for diminishing resources, and a population growth that was threatening their existence. That’s when it hit Dr. Goodall: How can we, she pondered, even try to save these chimpanzees while people living around the borders of their forest are also in a terrible situation?
“It was shocking,” Dr. Goodall says. “It was absolutely shocking, because everywhere people were showing slides or movies of the destruction of the habitat. Chimpanzee numbers that were dropping.”
Dr. Goodall asked herself how it was possible that we humans, the most intellectual creatures that have ever walked on Earth, were destroying our only home. She saw a disconnect between the clever mind and the human heart. Instead of making major decisions based on how human activities will affect future generations, we make decisions depending on how they affect us right now, even if it means depleting our supply of natural resources and increasing our carbon footprint.
Dr. Goodall realized that we have become caught up in a materialistic and greedy world, and that this has dire consequences for the future. We are so interested in money and personal gain that we are neglecting important things like collective human health, clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment. She resolved to do something about it before it was too late.