Jane Goodall on what we can do to save the planet

17 Jun Jane Goodall on what we can do to save the planet

Last night I was lucky enough to hear Jane Goodall talk. She is a famous scientist known for her pioneering work with chimpanzees and her love of animals. She is 83 and she travels the world raising money for habitat preservation and community development. It was very inspiring.

What I took from this talk was that each of us has the opportunity to do something positive for the planet. We have a small window of opportunity to save this planet from destruction. If each of us was more conscious of the small choices we make every day with regard to the food we eat and the products and services we consume, all of those actions would add up to a population that steps more lightly on the earth.

Borrowing the world from our children

‘They say that we don’t inherit the world from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children. At the moment we are stealing it from our children.’ Did you see that they have identified a major melting event on the Antarctic? 😮

I think that Jane Goodall is right. We are so consumed with the measure of success being economic, and at the moment we only think about what is good for ourselves or our families or our shareholders. We don’t think about the future, and this makes us very selfish and shortsighted. In order to save the planet, we need to reframe the attitude that money is a measure of success. We need to hear from a top group of economists who indicate that unlimited economic growth is not possible on a planet with finite resources.

One small thing I can do today

Listening to Jane Goodall talk gave me a lot to chew on this weekend. I think the most important thing is to take action, however small. One of the things that I identified that I can do this week , is to eat less meat. This is good for your health AND good for the planet. However, I actually don’t think that there is any point talking about *what I am going to do* I want to actually DO it and walk the talk. Therefore, you will be hearing from me when I have taken action.

It really is empowering. I spend a lot of my time thinking about my audience and the big picture stuff. Listening to Jane Goodall and downloading from my mind afterwards made me realise that there is a lot that I can do, just as an individual on this planet. If I take responsibility and make good choices!