Earth Day 2021: Dr. Jane Goodall urges personal eco-responsibility

In this video, renowned conservationist and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall shares her thoughts on the dream of a well-stewarded home planet, in honour of Earth Day 2021.

Earth Day is a global event marked annually on April 22 to show support for the environment. Launched in 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by earthday.org, bringing together an estimated 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.

Dr. Goodall reveals that in a Cherokee ceremony, she was given the name, ‘Sister to Mother Earth’, and that it was “one of the greatest honours” she has ever received. Reflecting on this experience, she says that recently, in a vivid, “waking dream”, she experienced the distress and trauma of our living planet – spanning the suffering of flora, to wildlife, to impoverished, conflict-trapped people.

“We must remember that we are animals, too,” she says, and in desperate need to have a home in which we can live safely, and contribute to, in turn.

Yet, Dr. Goodall also shares a moment of hope from her revelation – the mission to save the earth being undertaken by the new generations. Reaching back for the wisdom of their elders to pour into the drive to heal the planet.

On this Earth Day, she says, each of us must plan what we can do to help the planet, having been shown – most recently through the outbreak of Covid-19 – the sobering consequences of our blind exploitation and ‘disrespect’ for the earth.

How to respond to the existential dangers of climate change and loss of biodiversity is our foremost challenge, she adds.

“On this Earth Day, let’s think about how we can create a different and respectful relationship with the environment and with animals, and a new, more sustainable, economy, reducing the gap between the haves- and have-nots.”

Dr. Goodall is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots & Shoots programme, and has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues. In April 2002, she was named a UN Messenger of Peace and is an honorary member of the World Future Council.

View the original video here.

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