“Every single day you live you make a difference in the world, and you get to choose the difference that you make.” — Jane Goodall
Wise, simple, and true words. Last week, when I heard that Jane had died, it knocked the wind out of me. It hit me as more than a loss; it felt like the end of an era. Jane was iconic in the truest sense. A naturalist, a deep thinker, an expert, and so elegant. She was someone whose love of animals, of nature, set the bar for how much we each could and should devote ourselves to preserving life on Earth.
Amid the outpourings on social media this comment struck me: “I want to live in a country where the flags are flown at half mast for Jane Goodall.”
Upon reading that, the word “Yes!” erupted from my mouth, and tears welled up in my eyes. The contrast of her love and care with the hate and cruelty of our current politics was so painfully stark.
Jane was a leader worth following. A primatologist and conservationist best known for her long-term study of chimpanzees in the forests of Tanzania, she was founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, and a UN messenger of peace — would that more leaders aspire to hold that title.
She helped wake up the ecologically-disconnected western world to the stakes of the environmental crisis and to the immorality of mistreating the other species we share this planet with. Jane also beautifully welcomed others into being part of the healing of nature, such as through her youth organization Roots and Shoots, which got many thousands of children in dozens of countries engaged with environmental and humanitarian issues. Over and over she helped people find ways to be part of the solutions. These are footsteps I aim to follow.
It’s been lovely to see the ways she is being honored in the wake of her death, but I must admit I find the rush for everyone who has a photo with her to post it on social media a bit odd. A jarring aspect of digital modernity. But it led me to remember that in 2021 I was a guest on her podcast, an out-of-the-blue invitation I was gobsmacked to receive. When we got onto the Zoom together I excitedly clasped my hands, wide-eyed. That feeling of regressing and of shifting into student mode when in the presence of wise elders is such a gift.
I couldn’t let myself just be interviewed by her — how absurd for me to be the one doing all the talking when with such a luminary! — so it was a conversation.
And we got into a bit of a debate on hope. As readers of my book What If We Get It Right? may recall, my official stance on hope is “Fuck hope. What’s the strategy? What are we going to do so that we don’t need hope? (Here’s that book chapter, excerpted in a previous newsletter installment.) Meanwhile, Jane’s podcast was called the Hopecast. Not losing hope is her core message! Let me tell you, I dropped that semantic discussion right quick saying, “I can’t argue with you Jane Goodall. That would be ridiculous.” But what I realize now, upon re-listening to our conversation, is that she was focused on preventing people, especially children, from losing hope. And I am focused on encouraging people who have maybe already lost it. And we are both prodding people to act, to never give up regardless of the odds.
We had a long, meandering chat, that was edited down to 30 minutes for her show. I’m so glad to get to share her voice with you; a reflection of her abundant soft power. Jane was (a word I use rarely) a hero. She titled this episode “Hope is Courage and Taking Action Together.” Amen.
Clips from my conversation with Jane:
Episode credits: Thank you to the Jane Goodall Institute for producing this original conversation, Remoy Philip for producing the version for this podcast, and assistant producer Jenisha Shrestha.
CALL TO ACTION
My call to action for you this week is to support the continuation of Jane’s work by encouraging a young person or educator to get involved with her Roots & Shoots organization. There are tons of resources for organizing and action on their website. Taking action to protect and restore nature is by far the best way to honor Jane’s incredibly legacy.
Death comes for us all, but Jane was relentless in spreading her message to the very end. I’ll give her the last word. Here she is at the Planetary Guardians event on September 24, 2025 announcing their new Planetary Healthcheck Scorecard. She summed it all up in just 90 seconds. Here is Jane Goodall’s last call to action.
