Some Great Sentiments By the Late Jane Goodall

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

"The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."

- Native American Philosophy (most often attributed to Chief Seattle)

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”

~ Chief Si’ahl (Seattle) 

Ran into a few wonderful and thought-provoking quotes by the late Jane Goodall yesterday, which seemed worth sharing here. 

The first is in keeping with something which I mentioned about her yesterday. Specifically, it was about her trying to remind us all that, whether we realize it or not, we are a part of nature. Most certainly not separate from it. Not immune from the laws and limitations that govern over other creatures, and not exempt from the consequences if we keep ignoring this seemingly obvious truth. 

Here is the first quote:

“You cannot share your life with a dog or a cat and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings.” 

― Jane Goodall

Yeah, I felt that way before, as well. If you watch animals, you start to understand that they have a full range of emotions and thoughts. I've seen both dogs and cats get embarrassed, annoyed, happy, excited, and all sorts of other emotions. It is clear that they experience physical pain.

All of that, but they do not have the human language skills to be able to make us aware of all of this. Squirrels will figure out how to go around human obstacles designed to keep them out in order to get bird seeds, for example. It might not be thinking or problem solving by students at MIT or Harvard or Princeton or Oxford, granted. But it is thinking, it is figuring out solutions to a problem. And we see it all over. There are chimps and other primates who use tools. Birds build their own homes, even though these seem primitive to us. Beavers build dams that alter the course of streams or rivers, even though it may not always be clear to us as to why they do it. 

Yes, animals think. 

And feel. Clearly. 

It seems to me the height of human arrogance to assume otherwise, frankly. 

Here is another sentiment. This one is a bit darker, admittedly. Of course, it focuses on human beings, so that fits. Yet, she is urging us not to give in to the despair of these dark times. Urging us to focus on doing what we can, on a small scale. That's how to make a difference in this world. Here is the quote:

We’re going through very dark times: socially, politically and especially environmentally. And lots of people are kind of losing hope, because you get this message, think globally, act locally. But if you think globally, you get really depressed. So, the message is about acting locally. And the main message is that each one of us makes some impact on the planet every single day.

That was essentially the message that I remember the Environmental Club at Bergen Community College stressing repeatedly back in the early nineties, when I was still mostly just a kid yet. They had buttons and posters stating it outright, if memory serves correctly: Think Globally, Act Locally. 

Makes sense to me.

What I learned from the Environmental Club, in short, were those two things, which still resonate with me, and still feel like the truth, even after all of these years:

Think Globally, Act Locally

and, of course:

Nothing Changes Until You Do

We can use more people like Jane Goodall, frankly.

She and her soft wisdom will be missed.

In these ‘very dark times,’ Jane Goodall explains why she is still hopeful Becky Anderson By Becky Anderson and Sophie Tremblay  7 min read  Updated 1:05 PM EDT, Tue July 7, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/15/world/jane-goodall-interview-on-climate-change-trump-and-her-legacy