Interview With Dr. Jane Goodall...continued

T.Dolma: What was your first impression you had when you first heard about Shree Mangal Dvip school? 

Dr Jane:  Well, my first impression was that from everything that I had heard I was very curious to come and I looked forward to it a great deal and all the people that I have met from here have made me very glad I came. Thanks.

Wangchuk:  What has been most fulfilling for you after working for so long with the chimpanzees?

Dr Jane: I think the most fulfilling thing has been, I have been able to use the work on chimpanzees to help people in the west understand the true nature of animals, well, people everywhere really. And because the chimps are so like us, it becomes very obvious that there isn’t a sharp line, chimpanzees and other animals there, and us, over here. We are all part of one great animal kingdom. And you know that’s fulfilling and the other fulfilling thing is looking around the world, (seeing) the Roots and Shoots groups (and) knowing that they are changing the world even as we speak.

T Dolma: What can we do to help with the environment?

Dr Jane:  What you can do is to think about what you do everyday. There are two different things that people can do:  one is think about the way they personally interact with the environment every day, you know, do you save water or waste it? Do you bother to water a little dying plant or not? That’s one thing. The other thing is getting together with your friends, like Roots and Shoots and deciding what you can do to save the environment. Can you do something to help the terrible pollution of the river? Is there anything you can do as a group about air pollution?  Some of these problems will seem too big but you can think about them, maybe write letters, and some of them, you will think, well “We can’t clean this big main river but maybe we can clean up the tributary so that the water, that little piece of water coming in is fresh”, that sort of thing.

T Dolma:  How is Grub (Dr Jane’s son) and what is he is doing?

Dr Jane:  (Laughs) He is now grown up, he has 3 children, he is about to help my institute, The Jane Goodall institute by taking tourists out to look at what is going wrong in the sea with the Mangrove swamps, with the Coral reefs, with the pollution. (He’s going to) to take people to the beautiful places so that they can see what it should be like.

Wangchuk:  Do you like to share anything or give a message to the students of this school?

Dr Jane:  The most important message is that each single one of us matters and each single one of us is here for a purpose and the sooner we find that purpose the better, and  hat basically every single day, every single one of us makes an impact on the world and we have a choice as to what sort of impact we want to make.

Wangchuk:  Thank you very much for your wonderful time with us.

Dr Jane:  Thank you too