--- title: Jane Goodall: A Conversation With the Scientist description: Goodall is best known for studying the chimpanzees of Gombe and giving us a much deeper understanding of homo sapiens' closest genetic kin canonical: https://time.com/4748364/jane-goodall-conversation-earth-day/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-21T18:55:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:47:01.119Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch TIME's Conversation With Jane Goodall og:description: Goodall is best known for studying the chimpanzees of Gombe og:url: https://time.com/4748364/jane-goodall-conversation-earth-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c7ce95adaa7f8f4/6988c3f20a4a22e4619cdd4e/jane-goodall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4256 og:image:height: 2394 og:image:alt: POUR ILLUSTRER LE PAPIER : "LA NATURE ES og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch TIME's Conversation With Jane Goodall twitter:description: Goodall is best known for studying the chimpanzees of Gombe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c7ce95adaa7f8f4/6988c3f20a4a22e4619cdd4e/jane-goodall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch TIME's Conversation With Jane Goodall > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=d042ead8-3a6f-4bc5-820a-6eb0e291deb1&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Jane Goodall on How China Could Be a Leader on Climate Change [Watch (HLS stream): Jane Goodall on How China Could Be a Leader on Climate Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aLxQ0td4.m3u8) (2:47)  _Published 2017-04-21. Jane Goodall explains why she worked with Disney Nature to tell animals' stories, and how China could take charge when it comes to climate change._  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Apr 21, 2017 6:55 PM UTC  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Apr 21, 2017 6:55 PM UTC There aren’t a lot of people who are putting in 300 days at work each year when they’re 83, but then there aren’t a lot of Jane Goodalls in the world either. That’s OK, because humanity is already a better species for having the one Jane Goodall we’ve got — as her recent conversation with TIME makes clear. Goodall, of course, is best known for the decades she spent studying the chimpanzees of Gombe, bringing the world a much deeper understanding of _homo sapiens’_ closest genetic kin and raising awareness of African wildlife in general. But her body of work is far deeper and broader than that. She is the founder of the conservation group [The Jane Goodall Institute](http://www.janegoodall.org/), as well as [Roots & Shoots,](https://www.rootsandshoots.org/) a youth service program that started with 12 high school students in Tanzania in 1991 and now includes 150,000 youth groups in 98 countries. She is the author of [30 books](https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/18163.Jane%5FGoodall), an official [United Nations Messenger of Peace](https://outreach.un.org/mop/), and, most recently, a [Nature Ambassador for the Disney Corporation](http://ew.com/article/2014/04/10/jane-goodall-disneynature-ambassador/). If that last designation seems to carry less gravitas than her U.N. title, it may actually carry more influence. That, at least, is what Disney hopes and what Goodall herself is helping to make happen, with her work promoting the new Disney film [_Born in China_](http://nature.disney.com/born-in-china), directed by [Lu Chuan](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1283651/), narrated by [John Krasinski](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1024677/) and set to open in theaters on April 19, three days before [Earth Day](http://www.earthday.org/). The film, with a brisk runtime of 76 minutes, follows the lives of three animal families in the wilds of China: a group of snow leopards, golden snub-nosed monkeys, and — inevitably but irresistibly — pandas. Disney yields to no one in knowing precisely how to master the balance of drama, cuteness and mortal stakes necessary to make any nature film land, and Chuan’s work does not disappoint here — with its rich cinematography and narrative arc. Goodall will be only too happy if the film works its familiar family magic and Disney has a hit, but she’s playing for bigger stakes, too. “These movies follow individual animals over time, and we get to know them and their personalities,” she says. “It’s not manipulating what animals do; it’s being patient and letting the animals _show_ you what they do. And this message gets into people’s hearts.” It’s through the heart, Goodall has long believed, that people gain a true appreciation for the one planet we’ve got and our abiding responsibility to be better stewards of it. Children are usually the first to tumble to that kind of nature love, but adults are hardly lost causes. “In the Roots & Shoots program, we’re now working with older, retired people,” she says. “And they all say, ‘This makes me feel important again. This makes me feel like I have something to contribute.’ If we can get them feeling useful — planting things and growing things and working with kids and telling stories — then they come to life.” It is life, ultimately, and the job of protecting it on Earth — the one place in the cosmos we know that can support it — that moves Goodall most. “We send a rocket to Mars, a little robot creeps out and it takes pictures,” she muses. “It’s mind-blowing. We’re clearly the most intellectual creature that ever walked on the planet. But the photos from Mars prove that we don’t want to live there, and we certainly don’t want to live on the barren moonscape. So, we’ve got this one chance.” It’s a chance that Goodall has devoted her life to ensuring that we don’t waste. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We know from the study of chimpanzees how similar we are in so many ways. But there is one major difference, in my mind that is the explosive development of the human intellect. We're clearly the most intellectual creatures ever walk on the planet. So, how then is it we're destroying our only home? The photos from Mars prove we don't want to go and live there. We certainly don't want to go and live on the barren moonscape. So, we got this one chance. For our future. It seems to me there's been some disconnect between this very clever brain and love and compassion, the human heart. This is the first snowfall Tao Tao's sister has ever seen. Her pure amazement Is a welcome distraction from the hardships of winter. Why did I want to get involved with Disney nature? It's because they follow individual animals overtime and letting the animals surely what they do and this message gets into people's hearts and makes you feel very Passionate about trying to protect those amazing animals out there. And I have watched, in China, since I began there in 93, attitudes towards nature and animals has been changing. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] This is [ UNKNOWN ] and this incredible dreamscape [ UNKNOWN ] is her home. China is flexible. They are already ahead in solar energy and wind energy. And so if China will say, okay, we in China are now going to lead the way in healing the harm that we've inflicted can turn the things around for the future. It would be fantastic. Testing. Once young people understand and are empowered to take action, we listen to them, and let them decide what they want to do to make the world better. They may not interested in cleaning up in a river. They may be interested in helping dogs in a shelter. Let them do what they care passionately about, and then you see the power That is unleashed. [ MUSIC ] From chimpanzees I think we learn humility and we move away from this arrogance of thinking that we are the ones In control, and we may be able to control nature but if we continue in the way we are, then we will destroy nature and that destroys us in the end. 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