Jane Goodall was not only revolutionary to science. She helped establish kindness in the scientific field. Goodall died Oct. 1 as a renowned humanitarian, environmentalist, peacemaker and conservationist. Her work involved the genetic relation between chimpanzees and humans and opened up the world to groundbreaking discoveries, which forever changed science. The world needs to continue her legacy, especially during the growing climate crisis.
Goodall’s findings began in 1960 when she was only 26 years old. She found herself in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Forest’s vast hills, where she studied chimpanzees. During her six-month journey, Goodall would explore every detail of a chimpanzee by the way they hunted, ate and how they interacted with one another.
She took her findings and published “The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior.” Goodall held a research conference to display her studies and revealed chimpanzees are on the verge of extinction. This was the deciding factor that led Goodall to study similar species to help reduce other extinction threats.
The founding of the Jane Goodall Institute helped expand her research on primatology. It also aims to conserve chimpanzees and give people hope. Goodall realized the importance of advocacy from younger generations and founded Roots and Shoots to empower change in their communities. For decades, Goodall continued her research, winning multiple awards, including the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences in 1990, the William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement in 1996, the Hubbard Medal in 1995 and others through the years.
However, her impact shouldn’t end with her death; rather, this should spark a community effort to preserve her legacy.
Last year was the warmest year since global records began in 1850. The Earth’s global temperature has risen by 0.11 degrees each decade since. The 2024 global anomaly, a difference from the average, was 0.18 degrees, which was warmer than the global anomaly in 2023.
This is an issue for many reasons, but surface temperature matters for endangered species to continue to live. The surface temperature is also a main indicator of Earth’s energy balance. The energy balance is determined by how much sunlight is absorbed on the planet minus how much heat it radiates back to space.
For chimpanzees and other great apes, high surface temperature forces them to thermoregulate behaviorally. This means animals have to leave their natural habitat to cool down. Great apes move to the ground level with less sunlight, seeking water more frequently and change eating habits due to high stress and cortisol levels.
The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada found across Africa, great apes are suffering due to changing rainfall patterns and facing an increasing number of droughts. These droughts are affecting the great apes' vegetation, leaving different ecosystems abandoned. Although chimpanzees can migrate to different areas, growing urban cities and human populations have halted the great apes.
In fact, the institute found in a recent study that common chimpanzee behavior is slowly disappearing because of the proximity to humans and climate change. This was one of Goodall’s main research areas and is being overlooked by society.
We must come together to continue Goodall’s cause by doing the research and learning more about the climate crisis. Her conservation is more than just great apes and is about what we as humans can do for the planet itself.
Reduce your environmental impact and create healthy habitats everywhere. To use your voice, donating helps to speak for the climate injustices. Be the voice for the animals and planet without one.
Natalie Saddler is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Natalie about their column? Email them at ns505423@ohio.edu.
