Nature's Wake Up Call

I had the unexpected privilege last week to attend a meeting with Dr. Jane Goodall, on « Nature’s wake up: Why we must heed the warning » She called on the present generation to stop « borrowing the planet » from future generations, and to change our behaviours before it is too late . “When I think about what we have done to our planet, I’m ashamed. We have imperilled the future of our children. But it is wrong to say that it is too late for any change » said Dr. Goodall in reference to the pessimism she sometimes witnesses among today’s youth.

Jane Goodall, more famous as “Docteur Jane”, considers the awareness rising work she does with youth a priority. Through her work, she tries to trigger new hope and trust in making this world a better place. Through her programme « Roots and Shoots », present in 120 countries, focussing on youth, the Jane Goodal Institute tries to show the way in which each child can help improve the life of his/her community, of the animals, as well as contribute to the protection of the environment. Dr. Goodall highlighted the trust she has in youth, who gave her the strength to travel the world 300 days a year, in order to give hope and contribute to the « education of future generations so they become better students than we are ».

She became famous through her work as a primatologist in Tanzania's Gombe National Park, next to Lake Tanganyika, where, 50 years ago, she started to study chimpanzees. Her findings have largely modified our vision of relations between the human being and nature.

The holistic approach she introduced and uses in her conservation programmes contributes to the promotion of sustainable ways of life within the local communities. Her programmes help communities to develop capacity building¸ promote access to education, health services and family planning, micro-credit, HIV/AIDS programmes, and focus on women.

The debate, later, stressed the various factors that led to the alarming state of the planet today. Dr. Goodall pointed to the fact that the increase of the world population cannot be seen as the only factor responsible for the destruction of our environment. She pointed at lifestyles, which are dominant in rich countries, where the population is less important than in the South, but have a far more important impact on the environment. She also stressed the right of other species to live on this earth, and that we should forget our anthropocentric attitude and way of thinking in order to admit the necessity of preserving our world's biodiversity.

She was asked to do the wake up call of the chimpanzees.  It gave me goosebumps and shivers run down my spine.  It stirred something very deep in my primal brain.  She ended by the "good night, I'm happy" cry, so peaceful... terribly moving.

OK, if you have read this post until here, you must think you have heard this kind of blabla over and over again, right? Well, we need to hear it again and again, and make our choices: recycle; eat less meat, because it looks like methanol, produced by cattle, is overtaking the percentage of harm done by carbon emissions, not to mention the antibiotics given to cattle, producing more resistant bacteria; try to grow our own vegetables, in order to bring nature to the city, use spots of spare land to create communal gardens; boycott those oil spilling multi-shareholders companies, boycott brands using child labour, chemicals, etc. It is easy to find on the internet brands, which have a code of conduct and try to introduce organically grown fibers, natural dyes, and sustainable programmes for their workers, etc; use fewer chemicals in our daily lives…. A little drop in the ocean is better than nothing.

Now, if you have read my blog carefully, you know how much I enjoy travelling and discovering the beauties of nature. I have seen appalling pollution everywhere I go. Worst of all, plastic bottles and bags flying away in the wilderness, floating in the rivers and the seas. Less developed countries have no proper waste disposal services, they dump garbage around their houses, villages, drop them in the nearby rivers, whatever. Their priority is food and fuel to cook, with all the consequences this has on nature.

You will also have read that I absolutely love wildlife: there is no place in the world where I would rather be than in the middle of a natural reserve listening to the sounds of nature and observing animals. To me, that is what life is all about¸ how it started millions of years ago and how it should continue to be. It is there, in these moments that I am the most connected with the world, with myself, with my spiritual being and with what most people call God, but I call universal energy. All that has to do with egos and power struggles, getting richer and being materialistic is senseless. We need to reconnect with our heart’s wisdom. This is my truth.

It is therefore that I would like to spend some spare time in a less developed country and do some volunteer work, but first need to fix my own problems.

For those of you who are interested, here are some links, to several causes that move me:

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0412-jane_goodall_mszotek-singh.html
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/
http://www.lewa.org/
http://africanadrenalin.co.za/campjabulani/hoedspruit_endangered_species_centre.htm
http://www.moholoholo.co.za/
http://www.rhinorescue.org/lakenakuru.htm
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php

When children don't recognise vegetable: