“The world is a mess,” Jane Goodall, the prolific environmentalist and foremost expert on chimpanzees, told TIME CEO Jessica Sibley at the TIME100 dinner on the first night of the summit.
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00:00 Well, you need no introduction.
00:05 What you have done in your 90 years is remarkable, and this room all knows all about you.
00:15 What I want to talk about in the introduction is your character.
00:20 I learned that you made your way up here, protest, traffic, and someone stopped you,
00:30 a security guard, and saw your face and started to cry.
00:37 I also learned from a guest this evening that he has 10 grandchildren of all ages, and every
00:46 single one of them knows all about you, Jane.
00:50 That is remarkable.
00:53 You have touched people's minds, their souls, and their lives around the world.
00:59 So thank you.
01:00 It is my privilege and honor to be able to have this interview.
01:04 Thank you, Mark, for allowing me to do it.
01:09 Okay, let's start with the trees.
01:13 Trillions of trees.
01:14 Is this doable?
01:16 First of all, I think it's doable.
01:18 Maybe not exactly a trillion, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less.
01:22 But with the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity, which are interlinked, looming over us, we
01:29 need to address every single solution there is, like reducing emissions, like living more
01:37 sustainable lives.
01:40 Nature is one major solution.
01:44 And it's not only trees on land.
01:46 It's the kelp forests, the seagrass, the peatlands, the savannas, the prairies.
01:52 They all can sequester CO2.
01:55 And the tragedy is, as they are destroyed, they release all that stored CO2 into the
02:01 atmosphere.
02:02 So it's also reducing the ability of nature to help us.
02:08 We need to fight renewable energy.
02:11 We need to do something about intensive farming, because that too, the emissions of methane
02:18 from animal factory farming, is horrendous.
02:23 And all of these different problems, you know, the good thing is that there's a group of
02:28 people really trying to fight each one of them.
02:32 But so often they're working in a silo, and they're not seeing that we all need to get
02:36 together and tackle them together and share the information.
02:42 Mark always asks this question.
02:43 So you've been working since the 1960s.
02:48 And he always asks, and I've heard him ask this to many that he's introduced me to and
02:52 to myself, what's been your biggest surprise?
02:56 My biggest surprise?
02:57 Well, who I am today.
03:00 It is so weird to me.
03:02 Talk about that.
03:03 How did you get here?
03:05 I suppose God knows.
03:08 But that's what Robert Browning said when he was asked about an obscure poem.
03:13 He said, well, at one time two people knew, God and me, and now it's only God.
03:19 But the only way I can get around it is there's two James.
03:23 There's this one, just a little person, you know, born to a very poor family, living through
03:28 World War II, working as a waitress to get my money for Africa.
03:33 And now look at me now.
03:35 How did it happen?
03:36 So there's this Jane, but then there's that sort of icon created, I suppose, by National
03:42 Geographic and Discovery and that sort of thing.
03:46 And I have to work really, really hard to keep up with that icon.
03:51 She bullies me.
03:54 Talk about you and nature and the impact that your family's had on you and your mother.
04:00 Well, my mother, you know, I think it's so important for parents to realize that probably
04:06 the most important thing they can do, even more important than because some people can't
04:12 afford to give the children all the food they need because they're in such poverty, but
04:17 even in that situation, if the parent, and it can be the father or the mother, support
04:22 the child.
04:23 I mean, you have a little boy, he's four years old.
04:26 I'm going to be an engine driver.
04:29 And then daddy says, oh, no, you're not.
04:31 You're going to be a doctor or you're going to be something else.
04:34 Why bother?
04:35 That child isn't going to stay wanting to be an engine driver.
04:38 Tell him, wow, you're going to be a fantastic engine driver.
04:41 Give him confidence.
04:43 And that's what my mother, when everybody laughed at me when I was 10 years old and
04:47 said I was going to Africa to live with animals and write books about them, how would I do
04:52 it?
04:53 We didn't have money.
04:54 World War II was raging.
04:55 And I was just a girl.
04:57 But she said, if you really want this, you're going to have to work really hard, take advantage
05:02 of every opportunity.
05:04 And if you don't give up, hopefully you find a way.
05:09 So you're here in Davos.
05:10 You haven't been here for a few years.
05:14 What are you excited about?
05:16 What are you hopeful about?
05:18 And can you give us some advice, especially me?
05:21 It's day one.
05:22 I think I'm losing my voice already.
05:24 Well, I'm excited about meeting some great friends, including Mark.
05:30 I'm really grateful to Jeff Horowitz because he pushed and got me the schedule I have,
05:36 which may kill me, but it's a good schedule.
05:41 So what do we need today?
05:44 We need not just talking.
05:46 We need action.
05:48 And some of these powerful people in decision-making positions, it's no good just arguing with
05:54 them if they don't agree.
05:56 There are still people who say, yes, the climate's changing, but it's part of a cycle.
06:01 Well, it may be part of a cycle, but it's enormously influenced by human activities.
06:07 So how do you change them?
06:09 You've got to reach the heart.
06:10 It's not the head.
06:12 People must change from within.
06:14 Telling stories.
06:16 Telling stories is really important.
06:19 So I was talking to a group of CEOs the other day.
06:23 I do this quite often, by the way.
06:24 And I know the CEOs in this room.
06:26 I'm sorry I've got my back to all of you.
06:29 I can't really help it.
06:31 I apologize.
06:34 So one of them came up to me afterwards.
06:37 He's got a huge multinational corporation.
06:40 He said for the last 10 years, eight years, eight years, I've been fighting to get my
06:45 corporation ethical, sustainable in the country where we source our products, the supply chain,
06:52 our offices around the world, and the way we treat our customers.
06:58 Three reasons.
06:59 One, see writing on the wall.
07:01 We're using up natural resources in some places faster than nature can replenish them.
07:07 Two, consumer pressure.
07:09 People are beginning to ask, did this harm the environment?
07:12 Was it cruel to animals?
07:13 Is it cheap because of unfair wages?
07:17 But what tipped the balance was my little girl of 10 years old.
07:21 And she came home from school one day.
07:24 She said, Daddy, they're telling me that what you're doing is harming the planet.
07:29 That's not true, is it, Daddy?
07:30 Because it's my planet.
07:33 That reaches the heart.
07:36 And that's what we have to do.
07:38 We have to get all these powerful decision makers to understand that action is needed
07:44 now.
07:46 And you know, somebody-- who was it who made the first remarks about 40 countries having
07:53 elections?
07:54 Yeah.
07:55 Well, I personally think that unless a person who stands for election cares about the future,
08:04 cares about climate change, loss of biodiversity, and so on, they're not fit to take office.
08:10 Well, I promise you, as Sam Jacobs, editor-in-chief and CEO of Time, we're going to make sure
08:18 we tell those stories.
08:19 We have the largest global audience in our history and the youngest.
08:24 And I think the youth are going to help to solve this problem for us.
08:28 We're here at Davos.
08:30 Rebuilding trust is our theme.
08:32 Have we really lost trust?
08:35 What do you think about that?
08:36 Well, I certainly think some nations have lost trust in others.
08:40 I certainly think many people have lost trust in their politicians.
08:44 I certainly think many people understand how much news is fake, and they no longer know
08:48 what to believe and what not to believe.
08:51 It's a difficult world we live in.
08:53 Social media isn't helping, although it can.
08:58 You know about Roots & Shoots, right?
09:00 You talk about the young people.
09:03 Roots & Shoots began in '91 because young people, even in '91, were losing hope.
09:10 And they were telling me that they lost hope because we had compromised their future and
09:16 there was nothing they could do.
09:19 We haven't just compromised their future.
09:21 We have been stealing it, and we're still stealing it today.
09:26 But was it true there was nothing they could do?
09:28 No.
09:29 I truly believe, and it's not only me, it's other scientists too, that we have a window
09:33 of time to turn things around.
09:36 We've already talked about nature and the trees, the Trillium trees, the oceans.
09:42 We've been talking about the plastic situation with Al Gore.
09:47 And so I said to them, "Look, get your friends together."
09:50 These were 12 high school students in Tanzania, and they got their friends together.
09:55 We had about 30, and we decided to form Roots & Shoots with the main message, "Every single
10:02 one of you matters.
10:04 Every single one makes an impact on the planet every single day.
10:08 That's all of us.
10:10 And we have a choice.
10:11 What sort of impact can we make?
10:13 Unless we're living in deep poverty, and then we just have to do what it takes to survive.
10:19 But everybody in this room and all our families, we can make a choice as to what we do each
10:24 day."
10:26 So because I learned in the rainforest how everything is interconnected and has a role
10:31 to play, we decided every group would choose.
10:34 We wouldn't tell them.
10:35 They would choose a project to help people, a project to help animals, a project to help
10:40 the environment.
10:41 And that group of 12 high school students began a program that's now in 70 countries
10:48 with members from kindergarten through university.
10:52 And they are all, I tell you, as we speak tonight, there are Roots & Shoots in some
10:56 countries, planting trees, walking people's dogs, worrying about street children, saving
11:03 up money and sending it to the causes they believe in.
11:07 They're changing the world, and they're my greatest reason for hope.
11:12 You talk about the window.
11:13 I'd imagine you think of that window as closing, not opening, but correct me if I'm wrong.
11:20 Correct.
11:21 Urgency.
11:22 Have we lost that urgency given the last year and the world events?
11:29 The world is a mess.
11:31 There's no question.
11:32 We've got these two terrible wars raging.
11:35 There are about 14 conflicts across Africa.
11:38 There's discrimination.
11:39 And, you know, the world is a mess.
11:42 And do we have the time?
11:45 We can turn things around, but only if we take action now.
11:52 Because I don't know how long, how wide this window is.
11:55 I don't know how many years we have.
11:57 But we are approaching the end.
11:59 But it's not the end if we get together.
12:01 Now, Time magazine can make a huge difference because collecting up stories.
12:07 What do people need to take action?
12:09 They need hope.
12:11 Because if you don't have hope, you give up, you become apathetic, and you do nothing.
12:16 And if we all do nothing, especially the young people, we're doomed.
12:21 So why do you think I'm still traveling the world 300 days a year, age 90?
12:27 I'm polluting the atmosphere with airplanes.
12:29 But I don't go, you know, I fly commercial, and the plane would go without me.
12:35 So I don't feel too bad.
12:36 And our Roots & Shoots groups are planting millions of trees.
12:40 So they are absorbing and protecting forests, too.
12:45 And we protect forests by working with local communities, lifting them out of poverty,
12:50 so they don't need to destroy the forest to get money.
12:53 That's incredibly important.
12:55 Well, you have shown how one person can make such an impact.
13:00 I only make the impact because I have amazing people helping and supporting, you know, from
13:05 my mother to all the amazing young leaders we're generating.
13:11 Last question.
13:12 I always like to end on hope and optimism, which is so much a part of what you do and
13:19 who you are.
13:20 What are you hopeful and optimistic about, especially this week?
13:23 Out of this week?
13:25 Or just this year?
13:27 Well, I mean, I hope I meet enough people that I can talk to and try to reach a heart.
13:35 I mean, one or two people whose names I won't mention, I don't think they have a heart to
13:40 reach.
13:41 But apart from that.
13:43 Dr. Jane Goodall, thank you so much.
13:47 Thank you.
13:48 Thank you.