Jane Goodall says we need hope to fight climate change — and her hope lies with youth

Jane Goodall was 10 years old when she climbed her favourite tree to read Tarzan of the Apes for the first time. Then and there, her dream of moving to Africa to live with wild animals and write about them was born. Just 13 years later, she was in Kenya. 

By 26, Goodall was venturing into the dense forests of what is now Tanzania to begin the research on chimpanzees that would make her world famous. And at 27, she was a household name. 

Goodall's discoveries in Gombe Stream National Park transformed humankind's understanding of our closest living relatives and in turn the relationship of our species to the natural world. 

That spark she possessed as a young person ignited a lifetime career as a conservationist. Now 89, Goodall says it's the youth of today that keep her hope alive amid all that's going on in the world environmentally, politically and socially.

"We really are in very dark times," Goodall told The Current's host Matt Galloway. "So many people feel helpless, hopeless, so they do nothing. They just carry on with business as usual. And that's why working with young people is so very important."

Goodall began the Roots and Shoots youth program in 1991 and it's growing fast, she says, having spread to more than 70 countries with more than 12,000 young people in Canada alone actively involved in projects addressing environmental problems within their own communities.

"We've got to work with [young people] to at least slow down climate change and the loss of biodiversity," says Goodall, adding that the two are "inextricably linked."

Goodall travels approximately 300 days a year to speak about the importance of conservation and inspire people. She was in Toronto on Oct. 12 to give a talk at Meridian Hall.

Galloway paid her a visit that morning at her hotel. Here is more of their conversation. 

Knowing what you know, and having done the work that you've done, what's most alarming to you about the biodiversity loss that we're seeing right now?

I was able to spend weeks and weeks out in the forest alone with the chimpanzees learning about how the ecosystem is made up of this complex mix of plant and animal species. And you find that each one has a role to play. If you think of it as like a beautiful living tapestry, every time a species goes from that ecosystem is like pulling a thread from that tapestry. If enough threads are pulled, the tapestry hangs in tatters. The ecosystem collapses. 

Cloistered away in cities and towns and with their virtual reality, people seem to forget that we're part of the natural world. And not only that, we depend on it. 

If we carry on like this, we will be doomed. But we've got this window of time and we have to get together. This is the message that young people — they rally to it. They're passionate. And when you're young you've got all the hope in the world that [you] can make change, and that's what's needed. 

When you talk to young people, there's a lot of optimism but there's also real anger that older generations have left them with this huge problem. Do you understand the anger that young people feel?