Dr Jane Goodall’s message to Kiwis during Auckland appearance

Dr Jane Goodall. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Is there hope? It’s the topic at the heart of Dr Jane Goodall’s current speaking tour, which had its Auckland date last night, and saw her address a local crowd looking to learn from the respected conservationist. Emma Gleason was in the audience to hear what she had to say.

Jane Goodall knows how to deliver a message; she’s become a master of it, fostering a global community of fans and inspiring people to take action. Judging by the audience at her Auckland event last night, that message spans generations; children clutched plush chimpanzees, while other attendees look to be the right age to have witnessed her earlier forays into the public realm in the 1960s as a primatologist.

These days of course, she’s world-famous, and at 90 is still working; currently on her Reasons For Hope tour.

“I feel so welcomed in New Zealand,” Dr Jane Goodall tells the nearly full house at SkyCity Theatre. “I wish I was staying longer.”

She was last here five years ago, and this latest visit comes days after thousands of Kiwis filled nearby Queen St on Saturday during the March for Nature protest, which challenged the coalition Government’s contentious Fast-Track Approvals Bill, which speeds up the consent process for major infrastructure projects.

She sees “immense hope” in Kiwis, particularly the young generation.

Goodall, who is a United Nations Messenger of Peace, rose to global acclaim during the 1960s for her primatology work with the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. In 1977 she co-founded the conservation-focused non-profit the Jane Goodall Institute.

Dr Jane Goodall is an English ethologist and activist and one of the world’s foremost experts on chimpanzees. Photo / Michael Neugebauer

The indefatigable 90-year-old continues focusing her energy on animal welfare, habitat conservation and environmental causes, and it was the topic of much of her address to the crowd in Auckland.

After detailing her childhood interest in nature – giving particular credit to her mother – and how she established her field of work amidst numerous barriers. “I was lucky.”

Goodall’s deep respect of animals, particularly primates, is undimmed with time, and her anecdotes about studying chimpanzees in Gombe are rich and enthralling. “They really are our closest relatives.”

You can’t help but be moved.

A realist, she stressed similarities between humans and chimpanzees. “Like us, they have a dark side,” she said, and are capable of violence, though they can also “show true altruism” just like us. “We are not the only rational, thinking, sentient beings on this planet.”

This respect for the animal world led her to environmentalism and habitat protection, and Goodall was an early understander of the structural and economic issues that cause deforestation; how poverty can lead to desperate actions, like felling forests for substance farming or the wage of charcoal production.

Tackling this was the goal of the community-led conservation initiative Tecare, launched in 1994 by the Jane Goodall Institute, which has 25 offices around the world (including New Zealand). The global Roots & Shoots programme, founded in 1991, aims to empower younger generations to engage with conservation and humanitarianism.

As far back as the 1980s children and adolescents “were losing hope” she said.

“We have compromised the future of our young people, and we’re still doing that today,” Goodall told the crowd, but she was explicit that she disagreed with the idea that there is no hope.

“Every single one of us makes an impact,” she said. “We choose what impact we make.”

She spoke to “the most amazing” group of Kiwi students yesterday morning and “saw intense hope” in the 500 children from 12 schools across Auckland. She told them about the importance of being ethical with their consumer habits. “If it costs so much, you will value it more and there will be less waste.”

English primatologist Dr Jane Goodall speaks to students at Saint Kentigern Girls’ School in Remuera to support her Roots & Shoots programme. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Before coming to New Zealand, Goodall was across the Tasman, where she visited Taronga Zoo. “Without hope, we’re doomed, we’re literally doomed,” she told students.

In Auckland, her message was a warning. “There are people who say it’s too late,” she told entrepreneur Emma Lewisham. “It’s not too late, we’ve got a window of time.”

Goodall was in conversation with Lewisham – who described it as a “pinch me moment” – as part of the event.

Her namesake beauty brand established a connection with Goodall in 2021, who issued a public endorsement of Emma Lewisham when it became the world’s first carbon-positive beauty company. “This business model is not just possible but paramount if we are to make a meaningful difference,” she said at the time. “True change begins – when we work together. The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

Goodall’s famous face has graced marketing collateral for the brand in Auckland. In 2022 Lewisham appeared on an episode of The Jane Goodall Hopecast, discussing circularity and traceability.

It’s in these topics that Goodall sees considerable opportunity for people change their habits.

Last night she repeatedly stressed the impact of consumerism. “The amount of human waste is truly shocking,” she said. Turning a mirror on the audience. “What do you buy, where did it come from?” she asked the crowd. “Is it cheap? Then don’t buy it.”

Some of the conventional things people do are “bullshit” she said candidly, also being frank about structural issues that impact the planet, people and animals. “When you think of war,” she said. “Money’s behind it.” Goodall called the relationship between governments and the arms industry an “unholy alliance” and called for “no more corruption.”

Goodall also critiqued the old adage of ‘think global, act local’.

“If you think of everything globally, you get depressed,” she said frankly. “Think global, act local is the wrong way around.” Instead, she suggested that by focusing locally, actions have a cumulative effect that can spread on a global scale.

Considering how to foster hope and optimism – climate pessimism is a common concern, particularly with young people – Goodall considered the concept of joy.

“Can we only be happy in an already happy world?” Goodall pondered . “I don’t know.”

Instead, she advised striving for “happy moments”, as many as you can, and seeking out success stories to give you hope.

Citing a local example of this, Goodall shared the hope she found in New Zealand’s black robin – a species that was reduced to five birds and one breeding pair, now numbering over 500.

“Give nature a chance and she will come back, even to places that we’ve totally destroyed.”

Goodall also stressed the power of indomitable human spirit, which she said we all share. “If everyone let their indomitable human spirit guide them, what a world it would be,” she said hopefully. “That’s the message I want to bring to you.”

Emma Gleason is the New Zealand Herald’s lifestyle and entertainment deputy editor. Based in Auckland, she covers lifestyle, entertainment and culture.