Jane Goodall draws crowd in Pasadena, where she touts ‘heroic deeds’ amid Eaton, Palisades fires
Conservationist icon Jane Goodall spoke to a packed auditorium at Pasadena High School on Sunday, March 30, offering hope for Los Angeles’ County’s recovery from the Eaton and Palisades fires while thanking those stepped up amid the catastrophe.
The event, which included Goodall’s reflection on her lifelong work in ecology, was hosted by the Pasadena Educational Foundation and Pasadena Unified School District.
“I suffered along with many people thinking about the harm done to this community and to these communities around L.A. because of the terrible fires, where so many people lost their homes and their belongings,” she said.
But Goodall tempered that sadness in the sheer scope of the tragedy with an emphasis on the resilience of those who helped others – a theme she’s seen emerge in tragedy all over the world.
Goodall expressed gratitude to the firefighters who worked during the destructive L.A. County wildfires as well as to the animal welfare groups that rescued wildlife as they fled Eaton Canyon and the Palisades.
Goodall’s visit came at an especially unique time for the Pasadena Unified School District community, which is in the process of recovering from the mammoth Eaton fire.
In its wake, it left several district campuses severely damaged or destroyed, dispersing its teachers and students, and their families, while compounding the district’s fiscal woes.
During her talk, she asked first-responders and the animal rescuers to stand, leading the large audience in a round of extended applause for them.
It was a moment of reflection for Goodall and her audience, as she noted that often the worst of tragedies can “bring out the best in people.”
They are “heroic deeds that highlight those people who might never be recognized …” she said, noting how lucky we are that organizations did step up to help.
“I’d also like us to think of other people in other countries who have lost their homes to fire and or war, who have not received help at all. They are hungry. They lack water. They lack clothing. They lack shelter very often. Right now I’m thinking of the terrible earthquake in Myanmar.
“All around the world there is this suffering,” she added. “All around this world there are people helping. All around this world there are people standing up and showing what human beings can do when necessity arises. So out of the destruction, we have to realize we can build hope for the future.”
Goodall has been studying chimpanzees and their behavior for more than 60 years at Gombe National Park in Tanzania, beginning at a time when there was “no thought of being a scientist as a girl.”
Her extensive research transformed conventional understandings of human relationships to animals and the rest of the natural world.
But that path was not without its attempted roadblocks.
While she was pursuing her doctorate at Cambridge University, Goodall explained, she spoke about being told she had “done everything wrong,” from naming chimpanzees, to talking about their personalities and emotions.
“We are not the only beings on this planet with personalities, minds, and emotions,” Goodall said.
Expanding on her illustrious career at the sold-out event, which drew a crowd of 1,500, Dr. Goodall spoke about how she got involved with chimpanzee research, and what she’s learned from 60 years in conservation and ethology.
“I realized that like us, [chimpanzees] have a dark and brutal side. They’re capable of violence and even a kind of primitive war. But like us, they also can be compassionate and loving and altruistic. They are our closest living relatives,” Goodall said.
Prior to the talk, several local Roots & Shoots groups and community partners shared the environmentalist work they’ve been doing, including the Pasadena High School Green Club, which has focused on rehabilitating soil after the Eaton fire.
Goodall spoke directly to young people in the audience and how they could get involved through the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots & Shoots, which has a basecamp in Los Angeles.
Started by Goodall in 1977, the Jane Goodall Institute and its 24 institutes advance community-led conservation efforts, care for chimpanzees, and ongoing research at the youth-centered Roots & Shoots, inspiring young people to undertake projects to benefit their community, animals, and the environment.
Paola Perez, a student from Northridge, works with several local Roots & Shoots projects, including “Plants 4 Good,” which gives away grown herbs and various seeds at food distribution centers in her community.
But while Goodall spoke about the various ways young people could get involved with caring for the environment, she also spoke directly to their frustration about the realities of climate change and global warming.
“We have indeed harmed your future. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have been stealing your future with the crazy idea that would be unlimited economic development on the planet with finite natural resources and a growing human population…” Goodall said. “I can’t say we’re the most intellectual creatures on the planet. Intelligent creatures would not be destroying their only home.”
Before answering questions submitted by students from across the PUSD, Goodall left her talk with reasons for hope— the human intellect, nature’s resilience, and the indomitable human spirit— the latter with which she represents with her stuffed toy monkey, “Mr. H,” who she’s been traveling with for more than 30 years.
“Just remember, every single one of you… 1,500 of you, every single day you live, you make an impact,” Goodall said.