Jane Goodall ends her at-large tenure with a message of hope

Primatologist and Cornell A.D. White Professor-at-Large Jane Goodall discusses her work, and goals, during a press conference, April 18, at Cornell News Service, on campus. Charles Harrington/University Photography

By Franklin Crawford

Renowned primatologist Jane Goodall concluded her five-year tenure as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell patiently reiterating her remarkable life story and expressing her environmental passions to public audiences and the media, while calmly pressing home an urgent "message of hope." While the substance of that message varied little from similar talks she's given at Cornell in the past, her quest for peace and understanding has acquired a sense of vital immediacy since Sept 11, 2001.

During a "Service of Hope" April 17, Goodall, 68, ascended the Sage Chapel pulpit to deliver her farewell public address as professor-at-large. But it was also her first public talk as an official United Nations Messenger of Hope. The service included readings from Goodall's book, Message of Hope: A Spiritual Journey, and an introduction by Kenneth Clarke, Cornell United Religious Work director, who told the audience about Goodall's latest appointment. The Sage choir also performed.

A day earlier, on April 16 in New York City, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan officially named Goodall the U.N.'s 10th Messenger of Peace, alongside Muhammad Ali and Elie Wiesel, among others.

Tying that honor with her global concerns, Goodall said, "If we're not at peace with the environment then we're going to continue killing each other."

Goodall's Cornell visit coincided with a spring heat wave, and audience members in Sage Chapel fanned themselves with programs throughout her address. She recounted childhood dreams of living in Africa, the enduring influence of family and friends -- particularly her mother -- and her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream Research Centre in Tanzania, which has continued for more than 40 years, making it the longest continuous field study of animals ever undertaken.

Goodall began studying primates in Western Tanzania in 1960 under the guidance of Dr. Louis Leakey, the world-famous paleontologist (and a Cornell A.D. White Professor from 1966 to 1972). She has meticulously documented chimpanzee behavior, including family relationships, communication, child rearing and reproductive behavior. In the early 1970s, she was the first to show that chimpanzees fashioned and used tools for their own purpose and often were carnivorous.

During a press conference at Cornell News Service, April 18, Goodall said it is "very shaming" to witness the devastating impact humans have wrought on the environment in just her lifetime. But rather than despair, she said she encourages people to take personal responsibility for improving the world.

"If we allow the planet to deteriorate while bombs are being thrown about, even if all the terrorists are wiped out, they will still have won -- if the environment is destroyed," she said. And she also indicated some displeasure with the Bush administration: "One of the problems with the administration is that they are selling the environment off," she said.

As a Messenger of Peace, Goodall will continue working to improve living conditions for captive primates and to educate young people about environmental issues through her international Roots and Shoots programs, which have been spreading fast after Sept. 11, she said. "It's spreading hope." Started 11 years ago, Roots and Shoots now has 4,000 active groups in 70 countries, including at Cornell and in mainland China.

"There was this desperation for information on the environment (in China); it was like rain on thirsty soil," Goodall said.

"In Tanzania we've been asked to put Roots and Shoots in the primary school curriculum," she said. "Roots and Shoots touches every aspect of a young person's life -- they take ownership of whatever project they work on."

Goodall described how the program influenced a group of at-risk youth in a Bronx public school. The students participated in a successful campaign to have the Kellogg's company remove a chimpanzee image from a cereal box. Goodall had taught them that the chimp being pictured was not smiling but grimacing, in fear.

While on campus, Goodall met with members of the Cornell Environmental Stewardship Council and with student members of the campus Roots and Shoots program, who have created a butterfly garden, among other activities. She also participated in a production of The Lorax, a Dr. Seuss story, with local schoolchildren.