John Simpson: Hope is Finding Adventure and Uncovering Truth

03/23/21 • 32 min

Dr. Jane Goodall sits down for an exciting and inspiring conversation with her longtime friend, British foreign correspondent and world affairs editor of BBC News, John Simpson. They reminisce upon their most memorable and intrepid adventures and share their experiences traveling to some extraordinary places, often via single engine planes. John shares how fate landed him in a recently bombed hospital in war torn Sarajevo and how a local surgeon saved him. They both remark upon how they were often guided by intuition and courage in moments of their careers that might have seemed “jolly stupid” to some of their colleagues, but have yielded great success for both of them. Dr. Goodall also discusses what it was like to demonstrate her research on Gombe chimpanzees after publishing papers on the “Four Year War” among a divided chimpanzee group - one of the first observations of great ape “warfare.” The result was controversial concepts on innate aggression in great apes during “nature vs. nurture” scientific debates of the 1970s. John and Jane have an enlightening and open-minded discussion on spirituality, including where they find their deepest connection to life’s greater meaning.

At the End of the Rainbow: Stay to the end of the episode to hear a rare archival clip of Dr. Goodall seeing for the first time how chimpanzees use and create tools - an insight that forever redefined what it means to be “human” as part of the rest of the animal kingdom.

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Previous Episode

Mailbag: From Argentina to the UK, Jane Answers Hopecasters Messages About Making Space For Love And Shares Her Proudest Moment

For this Mailbag episode, Dr. Jane Goodall is joined by honorary “Hopecaster in Chief” Shawn Sweeney, the Associate Vice President of Communications & Policy for the Jane Goodall Institute. Shawn and Dr. Goodall listen to inspiring and insightful messages from Hopecasters around the world. A young Hopecaster from Mexico thanks Dr. Jane for being her reason for hope by always making space for love and kindness. She also hears from a Hopecaster in Canada who asks Jane how she manages her mental health when the state of the world seems so negative. And at just 11 years old, Hopecaster Heidi from the UK is already taking action by designing and selling postcards to raise money for conservation, very much in line with the work of JGI’s Roots & Shoots program. Her question inspires Jane to reminisce upon one of the proudest moments of her life.

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Next Episode

John Scanlon: Hope is Ending Wildlife Crime

In this fireside chat, Dr. Jane Goodall is joined by John Scanlon, who is CEO of Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation and chair of the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, of which the Jane Goodall Institute Global is a champion. Recently John served as Special Envoy for African Parks and was the Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. John has dedicated his life to ensuring the safety and conservation of countless species of plants and animals. John and Jane have an insightful and moving conversation about the dire need to more effectively protect wildlife against criminal activities by joining forces beyond national borders, as well as work with local communities. For Jane’s part, she promotes education through Roots & Shoots youth programs and JGI’s Triangle Approach in countries like the Republic of the Congo, including work with law enforcement and sanctuaries, as well as the ForeverWild campaign. John, for the sake of future generations, finds hope in fighting for a better, more equitable world for all species. “We can't, in good conscience, leave the next generation with the system that we're living with today when we know that it's not fit for purpose.”

At the End of the Rainbow: Stay to the end of the episode to hear a never-before-aired clip of Dr. Goodall’s speech for Interpol in 2020, urging communities, countries and citizens around the world to unite to end the devastating trade of vulnerable wildlife.

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