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\n Photo by Enric Fontcuberta\/EFE\/Alamy<\/p>\n
\n Photo by Enric Fontcuberta\/EFE\/Alamy<\/p>\n
This article was originally pubilshed in October 2021. It was republished in October 2025 following Jane Goodall\u2019s death at 91.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0holy trinity of caring for people, protecting nature and tackling climate change is the foundation of the belief system that emerges from Jane Goodall<\/a>\u2019s The Book of Hope. The \u201chope\u201d in question is the naturalist\u2019s belief that humanity \u201ccan\u201d and \u201cwill\u201d act to make the world a better place. Hers is no rose tinted vision, but a lucidly argued conviction that hope is a \u201chuman survival trait\u201d without which \u201cwe perish\u201d.<\/p>\n The book is based on a series of conversations with Douglas Abrams, which began over drams of whisky before being forced onto Zoom because of Covid. Adams \u2013 an experienced co-author who wrote The Book of Joy with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu<\/a> \u2013 is the narrator, but it is Goodall\u2019s voice we hear. The Book of Hope ranges across her life, starting with how Goodall, now 87, left the comforts of home in England as a young woman for Africa when most of her peers were settling down. \u201cEven men\u201d in the 1950s, Goodall says, were \u201cnot travel[ling] halfway around the world to go into the jungle to live with and write books about wild animals\u201d. Her supportive mother, a love of the outdoors and the resilience she absorbed growing up during the Second World War were all fundamental in making her a world- renowned naturalist, as at ease with chimpanzees in the wild as addressing a room full of world leaders.<\/p>\n Louis Leakey, a paleoanthropologist (studying the origins of humans through fossils), gave Goodall her break early on, sending her out to the Tanzanian forests: \u201cLeakey believed that women might make better field researchers \u2013 that they might be more patient and show more empathy toward the animals they were studying.\u201d In Goodall\u2019s case, this proved accurate. She was the first person to observe a non human creature making and using a tool. Her research on \u201cDavid Greybeard\u201d (she names all animals) \u2013 \u201ca very handsome chimpanzee with distinguished white hair on his chin\u201d \u2013 documenting his use of grass stems to reach termites brought her international fame.<\/p>\n Greta Thunberg, <\/a>in her speech to the World Economic Forum in 2019, dismissed \u201chope\u201d, telling adults \u201cto panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day\u2026 I want you to act as if our house is on fire.\u201d But Goodall insists that without hope \u201cwe will give up\u201d and fail to extinguish the fire. \u201cIt\u2019s not hope or fear \u2013 or anger. We need them all\u2026 Hope is what enables us to keep going in the face of adversity.\u201d Saving the planet, Goodall argues, is \u201call about taking care of people so they are better able to care for their environments\u2026 It has become increasingly clear that conservation efforts will not be successful and sustainable unless local communities benefit in some way and become involved.\u201d This was the approach she and her colleagues took in Gombe National Park in Tanzania, working with local people and government officials to try to alleviate poverty before focusing on saving chimpanzees.<\/p>\n Narrative is the best way to make people see the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting nature, she believes: \u201cPeople are moved to action by stories more than statistics.\u201d This is partly why she considers herself a \u201cnaturalist\u201d rather than a scientist. \u201cThe naturalist looks for the wonder of nature\u2026 Whereas a scientist is more focused on facts and the desire to quantify\u2026 As a naturalist, you need to have empathy and intuition \u2013 and love.\u201d<\/p>\n It may be that this lack of imaginative storytelling is slowing action on climate change and biodiversity loss. We are constantly assailed by facts and figures about the state of the planet \u2013 degrees of warming, sea-level rises, carbon budgets \u2013 and policymaking is narrowly focused on emissions, paying little attention to education, access to nature, and the benefits of a healthy environment.<\/p>\n Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only \u00a38.99 per month<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net\/2021\/09\/TNS_master_logo.svg\"){kind=logo}
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