Tang Prize Laureate Jane Goodall's Three Reasons for Hope: Young People, Amazing Human Intellect, and Nature's Resilience

TAIPEI, Nov. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Due to the COVID pandemic that made it difficult to travel, Dr. Jane Goodall, 2020 Tang Prize laureate in Sustainable Development chose to deliver her laureate's lecture via video link from her house in the UK, where the story she narrated to explain her three reasons for hope began. With plain and simple language, Dr. Goodall shed light on 60 years of research and on her endeavor to collaborate with more than 60 countries in the "hope" of saving our planet. The Tang Prize Foundation cordially invites everyone to watch this lecture at https://youtu.be/ancLAxT8uEI.  

Having met many young people who "seemed to have lost hope" for the future, Dr. Goodall gained a deeper understanding of the serious consequences of mankind persistently harming the land. For example, "we destroy rain forests and other habitats"; "we pollute the rivers and the ocean"; and "the horrific factory farms where billions of animals are crowded together in horrendously cruel conditions". These human activities have constantly wreaked havoc on the cycles and the equilibrium of nature.   

Looking at today's young people, she has hope for them, because the Roots & Shoots Program she initiated has expanded to more than 60 countries, with hundreds of thousands of young people "from kindergarten through university" participating. They take part in different projects "to make the world a better place, for people, for animals, for the environment." Therefore, Dr. Goodall believes that "it's not talk that we need now. It's action. And what they are doing is very heartwarming. Because they get to choose their own projects; they enter into them with so much enthusiasm and energy." 

Dr. Goodall's second reason for hope is "this amazing brain," as she noticed that "scientists are now coming up with all kinds of innovative technology, solar and wind energy, renewable energy, and so many other ways to help us live in greater harmony with nature." However, she warned that "if we don't do something about the unsustainable lifestyle of the wealthier communities, we have little hope for future."

With enormous faith in the resilience of nature, Dr. Goodall reminded us that "places that we've totally destroyed can be, once again, supporting of nature and biodiversity, if we give them a chance, if we make concerted effort with our indomitable spirit." She made special reference to some of what Taiwan has achieved on this front, such as using plants to purify the heavily polluted water, "so that it flows from wetlands into a river," and became so clean that "you can actually drink it."