Jane Goodall
Born April 3, 1934
Jane Goodall is the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees, having closely observed their behavior for the past quarter century in the jungles of the Gombe Game Reserve in Africa, living in the chimps' environment and gaining their confidence.
Her observations and discoveries are intemationally heralded. Her research and writing have made, and are making, revolutionary inroads into scientific thinking regarding the evolutions of humans.
The greatest danger to our future is apathy.
Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
“If we kill off the wild, then we are killing a part of our souls.”
“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place--or not to bother”
“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”
“Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right. ”
“Michael Pollan likens consumer choices to pulling single threads out of a garment. We pull a thread from the garment when we refuse to purchase eggs or meat from birds who were raised in confinement, whose beaks were clipped so they could never once taste their natural diet of worms and insects. We pull out a thread when we refuse to bring home a hormone-fattened turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. We pull a thread when we refuse to buy meat or dairy products from cows who were never allowed to chew grass, or breathe fresh air, or feel the warm sun on their backs.
The more threads we pull, the more difficult it is for the industry to stay intact. You demand eggs and meat without hormones, and the industry will have to figure out how it can raise farm animals without them. Let the animals graze outside and it slows production. Eventually the whole thing will have to unravel.
If the factory farm does indeed unravel - and it must - then there is hope that we can, gradually, reverse the environmental damage it has caused. Once the animal feed operations have gone and livestock are once again able to graze, there will be a massive reduction in the agricultural chemicals currently used to grow grain for animals. And eventually, the horrendous contamination caused by animal waste can be cleaned up. None of this will be easy.
The hardest part of returning to a truly healthy environment may be changing the current totally unsustainable heavy-meat-eating culture of increasing numbers of people around the world. But we must try. We must make a start, one by one.”
“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
“
“And if we dare to look into those eyes, then we shall feel their suffering in our hearts. More and more people have seen that appeal and felt it in their hearts. All around the world there is an awakening of understanding and compassion, and understanding that reaches out to help the suffering animals in their vanishing homelands. That embraces hungry, sick, and desperate human beings, people who are starving while the fortunate among us have so much more than we need. And if, one by one, we help them, the hurting animals, the desperate humans, then together we shall alleviate so much of the hunger, fear, and pain in the world. Together we can bring change to the world, gradually replacing fear and hatred with compassion and love. Love for all living beings.”
Jane Goodall
Previous Salutes
Mohandas Gandhi
Eleanor Roosevelt Lyndon B. Johnson Michelle Obama
Helen Hayes Marion Wright Edelman Bishop Gene Robinson
Bishop Desmond Tutu Rachel Carson Helen Keller
Martin Luther King, Jr Dalai Lama Dag Hammarskjold
2 comments:
she inspired me to learn so much more about animals and how to help them and love them without trying to own them
wonderful human!
She is another "Warrior Queen" I greatly admire.
Post a Comment