Hi Friend,
It is 11:56am on Wednesday, October 1st, and I’ve just learned that Dr. Jane Goodall is no longer among us.
I had a different letter for you planned today, but it no longer matters. Typing through tears seems the only thing to do at this moment.
Dr. Jane was the best of us. She committed her entire life of 91 years to the conservation of wildlife and wild places, to educating, empowering, and inspiring people of all ages and backgrounds to care for our Earth.
I was one of them.
I learned of Dr. Jane in elementary school while watching Mighty Joe Young for the first time. It’s a film about an ecologist who loves and cares for a baby gorilla that grows and grows. Many think the film was loosely based off the three women hired by Louis Leaky, a famous anthropologist in the 1960s, to study primates in Africa.
Among them was Jane Goodall. She didn’t even have a college degree, but she was eager and willing to trek into the African jungle to study chimpanzees at 26 (and earn her doctorate). She was fearless. She changed the way the world understands animals, people, the natural world, and opened a door for women in science. She believed whole-heartedly in the power and passion of young people as a hope for our future. She has been one of my greatest inspirations.
After anthropology and psychology classes in college learning all about her research, I flew to Africa alone at 20 to see the chimpanzees and the lands that she loved so much. I hiked the hills of Rwanda to the grave of her colleague, Dian Fossey, who died studying gorillas. I’ve read many of Dr. Jane’s books, watched her speeches, and am sad to say I never got to see her speak live. Her unwavering love and commitment to our planet has been an inspiration to me on days when it’s really hard to find hope.
For all of these reasons, the Jane Goodall Institute is one of the organizations that I personally support every year, and that is one of the non-profit organizations we give back to with every purchase at Sage Leaf Studio.
I hope she left this world peacefully knowing how much she was loved by people she never even met. She will be deeply missed.
If you’d like to learn more about the incredible life and work of Dr. Jane Goodall, you can visit her website here. And if you’d love to keep her wisdom close, I’ve created 4 free phone backgrounds featuring her most inspiring quotes paired with my art to bring a little hope and wonder to your everyday. Get them below.
With deep sadness,
Jenny
