By Bonnie Burton
23 April 2020

Dame Jane Goodall is known for her work with primates, but she’s also an avid animal rights and environmental activist. In a CNET interviews, she says, “It’s because of our lack of respect for the environment that this terrible COVID-19 virus has shut down the world”. Photo: National Geographic
Dame Jane Goodall is known for her work with primates, but she’s also an avid animal rights and environmental activist. Photo: National Geographic

(CNET) – Jane Goodall has a lot to say about how human disregard for animals and the environment brought on the coronavirus pandemic. But the famed British primatologist believes there’s still a chance we can repair our relationship with the natural world, a point she stresses in the new National Geographic documentary, Jane Goodall: The Hope. Aptly enough, it premiered on Earth Day.

Goodall, now 86, is best known for her groundbreaking work with primates, including a 60-year study of social interactions among wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. She showed that chimpanzees displayed individual personalities, affectionate family bonds and other “human-like” traits. 

In addition to Goodall’s work with primates, she’s an avid environmental and animal rights activist. 

The next chapter of Dr. Jane Goodall’s life’s work unfolds in “Jane Goodall: The Hope,” which premiered on Earth Day, 22 April 2020, at 9/8c on Nat Geo, Nat Geo WILD, and Nat Geo Mundo. The two-hour documentary special takes viewers through chapters of Dr. Goodall’s journey in the 60 sixty years since her groundbreaking discoveries in Gombe researching wild chimpanzees, including her activism, creation of her non-profit organization the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and Roots & Shoots youth program, along with her current efforts to inspire the next generation. Video: National Geographic

I chatted with Goodall by phone about her thoughts on the coronavirus pandemic, animal rights, the environment, activism and the two-hour documentary that captures her determination to spread a message of hope and mobilize a new generation of activists. Here’s a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

Q. Why do you think our mistreatment of animals and the environment paved the way for COVID-19?

It’s because we disregard our place in the natural world and we disrespect the environment and animals that COVID-19 happened. Viruses can jump from animals to humans. Viruses can spill over onto humans in situations like our intensive farming with animals, and also in the meat markets in Asia and Africa. It’s because of our lack of respect for the environment that this terrible COVID-19 virus has shut down the world. 

If we don’t learn from this lesson that we should show more respect and we should try to protect the natural world, there will be another pandemic. This one was predicted ages ago in a book called Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen, but no one paid any attention. This time I hope we will. [more]

Jane Goodall: ‘Without hope there’s no point in continuing on’