Today we celebrate one of our most cherished role models, Dame Jane Goodall, on her 90th birthday. Fulfilling a childhood aspiration, (perhaps rooted in her reading of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan) she set off for Tanzania’s to study chimpanzees in Gombe Forest in her early twenties.

She discovered that they were not vegetarian but omnivorous, proved that they made and used different tools to accomplish different tasks, she studied and catalogued their language and behavior, and over time, became one of the most revered anthropologists, primatologists, and animal rights advocates in the world. (For a slightly more detailed account published by the Jane Goodall foundation, you can click here). A pioneer on so many levels,  she was one of the earliest conservationists to recognize the importance of indigenous peoples in environmental protection, and that human needs must be addressed to safeguard our planet. She has become an inspiration to women around the world, and in her beautiful message on Women’s Day 2022, it is easy to see why.

She has written and co-authored several books with her solemn, but heartening messages of hope, and we each have a favorite among her many, many memorable quotes.

• Susan – You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
• Victoria – We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place–or not to bother.
• Vanessa – Here we are, arguably the most intelligent being that’s ever walked planet Earth, with this extraordinary brain, yet we’re destroying the only home we have.
• Yvette – It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.

While you contemplate this extraordinary lady, we invite you to watch her in conversation with John Oliver displaying all the remarkable grace, charm, wit and wisdom for which we admire her so greatly. Join us and millions of fellow admirers in sharing her own birthday wish for the gift of “more years to continue getting the message out”. Many, many more…