Cover Dr Jane Goodall delivering a lecture at HKU on November 26, 2024 (Photo: courtesy of Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong)
Dr Jane Goodall delivering a lecture at HKU on November 26, 2024 (Photo: courtesy of Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong)
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English ethologist and conservationist Dr Jane Goodall gave a talk on biodiversity and corporate responsibility at the HKU
The lecture hall of the University of Hong Kong echoed with rapturous rounds of applause earlier this week when Dr Jane Goodall, best known for her pioneering and detailed studies and conservation work of chimpanzees in Tanzania, walked in with a smile and waved. The silver-haired primatologist, 90, showed no signs of her age when she greeted the audience enthusiastically onstage with a few rhythmic calls which meant “this is me, Jane” in the chimpanzee language.
The HKU talk, titled Integrating Biodiversity into Corporate Responsibilities, is one of her series of events and lectures on the promotion of conservation when she is in town this week. The event was attended by 200 attendees, including students, business school professors, corporate leaders and guests of the university.
As well as spotlighting why it is important now, more than ever, to strengthen our biodiversity conservation work and what global businesses can do to further this aim, Goodall also revealed how she, without a university degree, ended up becoming the world’s most famous primatologist and challenged scholars on the scientific approach to studying animals at Cambridge.
Here are 10 top quotes from Goodall you shouldn’t miss.
Read more: Asia’s most influential: Jill Robinson, founder and director of Animals Asia
Above From left: Zurich Insurance’s Ericson Chan, Dr Jane Goodall and HKU professor Guojun He in a panel discussion on corporate responsibility (Photo: courtesy of Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong)
From left: Zurich Insurance’s Ericson Chan, Dr Jane Goodall and HKU professor Guojun He in a panel discussion on corporate responsibility (Photo: courtesy of Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong)
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On the importance of biodiversity
Not only are we part of nature, we [also] depend on it for clean air, water, just about everything. We depend on healthy ecosystems.
On the ecosystem
Think of the ecosystem as a beautiful tapestry, with each species being a different thread. As a species vanishes from that particular ecosystem, it’s like a thread being pulled from a tapestry, and if enough threads are pulled, the eco tapestry will hang in tatters, and the ecosystem will collapse. That’s what’s happening around the world.
On her childhood dream
I wanted to live in the wild with animals in Africa ever since I was 10 years old. When I went to study chimpanzees in 1960, I had not been to university. I was just passionate about animals. And I was offered, amazingly, an opportunity to study our closest living relatives, chimpanzees.
On how she became a respected primatologist
My mentor, Dr Louis Leakey, said to me: “Jane, I picked you [as my student to study chimpanzees] because you hadn’t been to university. I knew your mind was uncluttered by the very reductionist attitude of science to animals at that time. Now I want scientists to take you seriously. So I’m sorry you have to get a degree. We’ve got no time for an undergraduate degree. So I got you a place at Cambridge University to do a PhD in ethology.”
Above Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees (Photo: Instagram/@janegoodallinst)
Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees (Photo: Instagram/@janegoodallinst)
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On the connection between human and chimpanzees
We are not the only sentient beings on this planet. Chimpanzees have vivid personalities and their emotions are so clear to see because they are our closest relatives biologically. They have a dark and brutal side: they’re capable of killing and having a primitive war. But they also show love, compassion and true altruism, such as when an unrelated adult male adopts a motherless orphan and saves the child’s life.
On holistic approach to climate change
The sad thing is, so often people work in silos and they’re not thinking holistically. There was a group of people in America trying hard to close down a coal mine. The carbon dioxide emissions were no longer going up, but they hadn’t thought about the people who lost their jobs. If people start thinking holistically, it will be a win, win, win situation.
On Mother Earth
Elon Musk may believe that he’s going to find a planet in his lifetime where humans can live and cycle half of our species onto that planet, but I don’t believe that’s true. We’ve just got this one beautiful planet that we call home. We’ve got to work together to save it. We need to regain wisdom by developing a different mindset that works, not just on profit and loss.
On human hubris
When I say we’re the most intellectual creature to ever walk the planet, I deliberately don’t say we’re the most intelligent because what intelligent species will systematically move towards destroying its only home?
Above Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees (Photo: Instagram/@janegoodallinst)
Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees (Photo: Instagram/@janegoodallinst)
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On what keeps her going
I’m 90 now. I don’t know how many more years I have. But I’m very obstinate person, and I’m not going to give in. When things go wrong, we just have to get together and fight hard.
On her hopes for the future
I still have hope because of young people. It’s the young people who understand the problems and we empower them to take action. They’re planting trees, cleaning up trash, raising money for various issues, helping in animal shelters. They’re changing the world.
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Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
