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After nearly 50 years of studying chimpanzees, it makes perfect sense that Jane Goodall, 75, would begin many of her appearances with a universal chimp greeting by hooting and panting. In 1977, she started the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation and got her Ph.D. without having a bachelor's degree. Her Roots and Shoots program is designed to activate a new generation of nature lovers.
She has written several books; her most recent in 2005, "Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating," lays out the benefits to you and the ecology when, for example, you choose grass-fed beef, line-caught fish and shade-grown coffee. She believes in the power of the individual to make all the difference in the world. She was in Pittsburgh last month for the Heinz Speaker Series. For more go to janegoodall.org.
Q: Do you continue to be amazed by the intelligence of chimpanzees or have you come to expect it?
A: Actually, I've come to expect it. If you actually look at the brain of the chimpanzee and the human side by side, the configuration of the anatomy is so similar. I have seen them being intelligent so many, many times.
Q: The fact that chimpanzees and other apes can communicate with sign language and can use computers makes you wonder why they are not fully protected.
A: Well, in fact, you know dolphins and whales could do the same and I'm sure elephants. They can paint just like chimpanzees. Parrots can actually say the words, so it's not just the apes. It's actually a wide variety of animals, and the way that we treat all of them is very often sickening.
Q: You were on Capitol Hill this month. What were you hoping to accomplish?
A: We were talking about the foreign appropriations bill and USAID and hoping USAID could include concern for the environment along with aid for development. Also talking to some of the senators about a bill to prohibit the use of chimpanzees and other primates as "pets." We've been going on about it for quite a long time, pets and entertainment.
Q: And what about medical research? Can it been done humanely?
A: Mostly, I don't think we need to use them. You know, advances now and alternatives are pretty sophisticated. I don't know if you saw the secretly filmed footage of the lab in Louisiana? It's apparently the largest chimpanzee research facility. I was utterly shocked to see those images. The absolute terror and the screaming. I couldn't sleep for ages.
Q: Did your son Grub (real name Hugo) follow in your footsteps?
A: He's sort of following in my footsteps now. He is involved in eco-tourism in Tanzania, and he's been helping us create organic honey in the forests around Gombe, which means that the honey farmers protect the forest.
Q: And you also sell the Green Mountain brand Gombe Reserve coffee.
A: That's part of our big program "Take Care," which is improving the lives of the villagers and villages all around Gombe in a very holistic way. We stress micro-credit loans for groups of women, and methods of farming most suited to the now very degraded land, and education for the kids. We persuaded Green Mountain coffee roasters to come out. They found the coffee really was super-duper and at a really good price. The farmers are so delighted that they have just now agreed to set aside land that will enable the chimps who are trapped at the moment to move out and interact with other remnant groups. It is a complete circle of helping people and then they turn around and become your partners.
Q: What has changed about you since you began your work with chimpanzees when you were 26?
A: It's our 50th anniversary next year. That's exciting. What has changed about me? Well, I was a naturalist. I wanted to live in the forest and learn about chimps, then I sort of had to become a scientist. [Anthropologist Louis] Leakey told me I had to get a degree, so I did that. Then I suddenly realized the speed with which chimpanzees and the forests were vanishing in Africa, and so I became an activist. So I've gone through various sea changes, but the central me, I think, is still the same.
Q: I read that you weren't really excited about getting your Ph.D. but that Dr. Leakey said you needed it to be taken seriously.
A: Yes, and he was absolutely right. I couldn't have done anything more useful and I also learned to make the best use of the data I collected. So it was very, very smart of Louis Leakey.
Q: What was the greatest spiritual turning point in your life?
A: I don't know if there was an exact turning point. It was always there and I think spending months and months alone at Gombe helped me feel more in tune with a sort of spiritual power that I felt was around me. It was in all of nature.
Q: You talk in your 1999 book "Reason for Hope -- A Spiritual Journey" about believing that the state of beingness does not end with death -- we have a spirit, a soul.
A: Yes, I completely believe that, and it's not something I would ever try to persuade anybody else to believe, but when you have certain experiences you have to believe [chuckle]. For me there is no conflict at all between evolution and some kind of religion, some kind of belief in a superior power. Louis Leakey felt that as well. I just don't see a conflict. To me the universe, simply this planet, is so filled with wonder and awe. I just think it's incredibly fortunate to be alive and see these wonders and have a part in uncovering some of them.
Q: Do you think animals have a spirit?
A: I think so. I sort of got the feeling that there is a little spark of this great spiritual power whatever he/she is in all living things. We question why are we here, what does it mean? We call that little spark a soul, so if we have a soul, then I think chimpanzees and dogs and so forth have souls, too.
Q: They just don't question why they're here.
A: They just don't question as far as we know. [laughing] They have other things to think about.
