Jane Goodall: We are not immune to extinction – 03/11/2023 – Environment

“Woo woo woo woo woo woo.”

This was the greeting that primatologist Jane Goodall —the best known in her field worldwide—gave to the audience awaiting her lecture at Unibes Cultural, in São Paulo, at the beginning of this week (see below).

The 89-year-old British conservationist, logically, spoke another language, which she also masters. “That’s me, Jane, in chimpanzee language,” she said next in English, in a good-humored tone, accompanying her serene countenance and voice.

In contrast, shortly before, Goodall received the Sheet for an interview and, referring to oil exploration and the climate crisis, said: “We are not immune to extinction.”

Asked about the idea of ​​oil research and exploration in the Foz do Amazonas basin —which has found space among sectors of the Lula (PT) government—, Goodall said that “unfortunately, this is happening everywhere, not just in Brazil.”

“It doesn’t make sense. We have to eliminate oil,” said the conservationist. “If we don’t change, come together and start doing things differently, the day will come when it will be too late. We will reach the point of no return from environmental destruction. And if we care about our children and our children’s children children, then it’s time to take action.”

The possible exploration of the Foz do Amazonas basin, on the so-called equatorial margin of Brazil, worries environmentalists due to the risk of oil activities in a biodiverse and vulnerable area. Furthermore, new investments in fossil fuels should not be made so that the planet can contain warming at less disastrous levels, as recommended by scientists and the IEA (International Energy Agency) itself.

Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) has already denied a request from Petrobras to drill a block in the basin, but sectors of the government and allies are pressing against the decision.

Goodall, this season in Brazil, was able to update herself on the socio-environmental issues that are most agitating the country at the moment. A few days before visiting São Paulo, Goodall was in Brasília and was received by Marina Silva, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and also flew over illegal mining sites in the Amazon, together with Greenpeace Brasil.

But Goodall had also seen, on a different occasion, the other side of the Amazon.

“I sailed along part of the Rio Negro when I was in Manaus and spent the night on the river. Surprisingly, it was a full moon. But I didn’t see many animals”, recalled the primatologist, who, in the first months in Africa, was also unable to get close, as intended, as his object of observation, chimpanzees.

“It was just lovely being there. I love being in nature. I was on the deck and it rained a little bit, so I just covered myself with a blanket. And I enjoyed being in nature.”

It was with this spirit that, in the 1960s, without a university degree or academic research background, Goodall went to the forests of Tanzania to observe chimpanzees, at a time in history when little was known about the behavior of these animals — so close to us – in nature.

The result: it helped show the world the complexity of the chimpanzee universe, documenting, for example, the way they use tools.

As time went by, Goodall saw that throughout Africa, chimpanzee populations were decreasing, as were their habitats. He connected the dots and recognized the causes.

In the fight for chimpanzees, he also fought for better living conditions for people in regions where chimpanzees live, as he realized how these issues can be discussed. Thus, the conservationist vein of his work grew, with the constant denunciation of the destruction of nature and the risks of the climate crisis.

The power of young people

Today, when thinking about climate activism, it is common to imagine young people protesting, since the main figure in this cycle is 20-year-old Swedish Greta Thunberg. Goodall is also a believer in youth power and, in the early 1990s, started the Roots & Shoots program, which, in general terms, encourages young people to take action on problems in their communities, including, of course, environmental ones.

Empowering new generations to get involved in problem solving does not mean, however, that other age groups should be absent from the action, she highlights.

“It makes me very, very angry when people say: ‘ok, it’s up to you’. We need to work together with younger people,” she said. “Younger people understand the problems. We didn’t.”

Goodall, by the way, seems comfortable talking about her age and the finiteness of life. Her next big adventure, according to herself, is death — to find out what happens next.

“It could be nothing, and that’s okay. But I believe there is something,” he said, calmly. “I believe I’m doing what I was put on this planet to do. I’m doing my best.”

The British woman said she imagines that, after leaving, her legacy will be defined in two points: participation in the discussion about animal sentience (the power to feel) and the task of giving hope to young people.

In fact, the discussion about hope is the central point of his most recent book, “The Book of Hope”, released in Brazil by Sextante.

Despite this, Goodall is not without a dose of pessimism in her speech and recognizes the difficulty of completely eliminating the use of oil, the protagonist of the climate crisis. The conservationist’s environmental concern also concerns overconsumption, mining and poverty.

“If we continue with everything the way it is, I wouldn’t want to be around in ten years,” says Goodall. “And since I’m 90 [completará em abril de 2024]I hope I’m gone in the next ten years,” he says, jokingly.

Goodall, however, always accompanied by a stuffed monkey called Mr.H — who is not a chimpanzee, as she is keen to state — prefers to end on a more positive note.

“Well, I think the most important message is to remember that every day you live, you make an impact on the planet. And you can choose what kind of impact you make,” he said.