Remembering Dr. Jane Goodall
Renowned scientist Dr. Jane Goodall became famous for her studies of the behavior of chimpanzees in Africa. She met with presidents and royalty, and sat for interviews broadcast around the world. But she was never too busy to spend time with Western Connecticut State University students who wished to learn from her – or to become like her.
Her last visit to WestConn was in September 2015, when she accepted an invitation to dedicate the new Permaculture Garden that had just been established by members of the university’s Jane Goodall Center on a plot of land behind the Science Building.
In addition to meeting with small groups of students, Goodall gave a lecture in a packed White Hall. She conveyed a message of optimism despite her frank disappointment in the state of the natural world.
“Isn’t it peculiar, that the most intellectual creature to ever walk planet earth is destroying its only home?” Goodall asked. “We’ve got planet earth, and planet earth has finite resources. We are using them as though they will go on forever, and they won’t.”
She urged the audience to not give up hope for the planet, which she said has been diminished because of poverty, the use of fossil fuels and manufactured chemicals.
“If any of you students in this room are thinking that we’ve compromised our future, you’re right,” Goodall said. “We totally have. Is it true there’s nothing that can be done? I choose not to believe that. I think we have a window of time, I don’t think it’s big, but I think we have a window of time. If our youth loses hope, we give up.”
Goodall’s legacy continues at WestConn with the Jane Goodall Center for Environmental Excellence, which also hosts the Roots & Shoots club.
In 2005, WestConn was established as a National Center for University Roots & Shoots, serving as a regional and national office of excellence in training university students, faculty and administrators to develop programs for K-12 and college students in local, regional and global conservation. As part of the programming, Goodall attended an annual seminar on campus for a decade.
The international headquarters for Roots & Shoots is now located at JGI headquarters in Washington, D.C., but the Jane Goodall Center for Environmental Excellence continues to foster service-learning projects for students throughout the community by reaching out to help with after-school programs, animal shelters, environmental organizations and causes, nursing homes and food pantries.