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Wed, Nov 15, 2000 - Page 2 News List

The woman every politician loves to meet

Jane Goodall, who travels tirelessly all over the world in her mission to educate people about the plight of the African chimpanzee, is currently in Taiwan. Having gone birdspotting with the president in Tainan already, this remarkable woman has also been spreading her message to the country's schoolchildren

By Liu Shao-hua  /  STAFF REPORTER

This observation was the first instance on record of a wild animal not only using an object as a tool, but actually modifying the said object and thus exhibiting the crude beginnings of toolmaking.

Her experiences in the field filled her with passion to help animals and motivate young children especially, so they, in some way, could share her dream and vision.

"When I was 11 years old, I dreamed of going to Africa to live with animals. But everyone laughed at me," Goodall said during the video lecture, imitating the sound of a chimpanzee.

At that time, 1945, a young girl's desire to go to the "Dark Continent" sounded radical, but her mother said to her: "Jane, if you really want something, and if you work hard, take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will somehow find a way."

A Mission to Educate

In 1991 she started the first Roots and Shoots program. There are now over 2,000 Roots and Shoots groups around the world, which mainly engage in animal and environmental protection.

"We can help improve the world by learning about problems and working on awareness of the problems," Goodall says.

Basically there are three key problems that we have to solve, she says.

The first is rapid population growth.

"Do we actually want to live in a world 100 times more crowded than it is today?" she asked. Goodall worries there will be no nature left and humans will be cut off from their spiritual connection with nature.

The second is the problem of development.

"How can people in the developed world help youth understand that success doesn't mean you need to have bigger houses and bigger cars and more and more things, and that in fact the mark of success should be the ability to choose, to live very simply?"

The third is the most difficult.

"How do we help the developed world solve all the mistakes that we've made?"

With a lot of work, and a little help from future generations, those problems will eventually be solved, she says.

"Children are our hope ... education is the way."

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