Dr. Jane

I spent yesterday evening in an old stone building with creaky woods floors and a couple friends in a crowd of several hundred people.

We listened intently as an 84 year old English woman talked about her life experiences.

Dr. Jane Goodall is: Dame of the British Empire, Scientist, Conservationist, Activist, Educator,Writer, Innovator, Leader, UN Messenger of Peace and friend to animals.

At an age when most people are retired, she travels 300+ days every year to give speeches like these. As a volunteer. All proceeds from last night’s event went to support Jane’s non-profit, the Jane Goodall Institute. In this case, a program called “Roots & Shoots” which educates children about animals and the environment.

She started out as an “uneducated girl” in London, with an insatiable curiosity about animals. Camping out in the chicken coop at her family farm to see where eggs came from, countless hours reading whatever relevant books she could find and wandering natural history museums.

Jane eventually worked and saved enough to travel to Africa, where she found experts an benefactors who supported her early research. Once she made progress, National Geographic came on board with financial support and filmmakers to document her work.

She skipped BA & MA work, heading straight to PhD studies at Cambridge. She wrote or co-wrote 26 books, has been the subject of over 40 films and has received countless awards & honours. Yesterday, she was featured by Google on their home page as an Earth Day Tribute.

I also learned that Dr. Jane’s favorite things include her sister’s dogs, a fireplace in winter time and a glass of Scotch Whisky.

Goodall’s story is an inspiration to all. Her persistence, curiosity, compassion, insightfulness, resourcefulness and relentless drive are an exceptional example of what a person can achieve if they are willing to do whatever is necessary to reach their goals.

Dr. Jane is also an optimist. She ended her presentation by talking about the reasons she has hope for the future, including human intelligence, nature’s resilience and children’s energy & enthusiasm.

Few things can impact the world like a person on a life’s mission, Dr. Jane is an exceptional example for everyone on the planet. The perfect person to tell her story on Earth Day.