Jane Goodall Sprouts Action in Chicago with Roots and Shoots Basecamp

In the mid-80s, ethologist Jane Goodall began travelling the world, sharing the discoveries she’d made studying chimpanzees in Tanzania. Having left behind the self-proclaimed best days of her life spent studying animals, the realities of a polluted and neglectful world started to set in. 

Goodall became depressed. 

She was disgusted by people living “high on the hog,” greedily consuming more than they needed and making unsustainable demands of the natural world. 

In her travels, Goodall said she met young adults, high school and college students, who felt the same as her — deeply depressed, angry and even apathetic to the injustice. She wanted to construct an avenue for hope and action. Her idea blossomed into Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program for youth, established in 1991.

Thirty years after the program’s creation, Goodall, 91, spoke for a crowd of hundreds at the Lincoln Park Zoo Sept. 13 for the kick-off of the Chicago Roots and Shoots Basecamp. She shared her journey from research to activism and encouraged the audience to never lose hope. 

“All of you young people, we have been harming — we have been stealing your future with the ways that we are living,” Goodall said to the audience in the Pepper Wildlife Center. “But it’s not true that there’s nothing you can do.”

Roots and Shoots

Since 1991, Roots and Shoots has blossomed, with over 60,000 participants across all 50 states. Local Roots and Shoots Basecamps — like the one opened in Chicago — conduct projects and implement environmental changes at the local level. 

Roots and Shoots National Youth Council member Marlee Christiansen, 16, explained the Chicago Basecamp has access to youth leader grants, mini-grants and now Chicago grants they can apply for. She said the Chicago grants, introduced as part of the basecamp, will make the program more accessible for local kids to do more good through Roots and Shoots. 

Chicago Basecamp Coordinator Alex Biswas said the designation as a basecamp will give Roots and Shoots “extra support to bring people together,” particularly through expanded grant programs. 

Christiansen, a student at Burlington Central High school, said she wants to start a project introducing bat houses in Chicago. 

“They’re an endangered species,” Christiansen said. “But they’re also native here, and they just do so much for the pollination.”

Chicago’s role in conservation

Goodall said she can’t imagine being in Chicago and not understanding how many public nature sites are available to residents. She referenced Chicago’s birds, parks and trees as just a few examples of how Chicagoans could use the city’s nature to improve mental and physical well-being. 

Lincoln Park Zoo — which has always been free — and Chicago as a city have always been deeply intertwined in Goodall’s plans for change. She attended the first worldwide gathering of chimpanzee researchers, hosted at Lincoln Park Zoo in 1986. The conference catalyzed her passion for solving destruction trends affecting animals and the environment. 

“I could tell you so many stories about me being in the middle of a city or the middle of an airport and seeing an amazing story about nature,” Goodall said. 

Roots and Shoots has a place in any type of community, Goodall said, and she hopes anyone from university students to inmates to retirees will join the program. She said action has the potential to quell environmental anxiety on both a personal level and a communal level. 

“When you roll up your sleeves and take action, you will find that you and your friends or other people in the group are making a difference,” Goodall said. 

Goodall’s message

At the speaking event, Goodall addressed the audience with unshaking hope as she detailed her journey to becoming a world renowned scientist. She discussed the intersections between animals, people and the environment, and how her activism is shaped by all three. 

One of Goodall’s most profound discoveries was chimpanzees’ use of tools. While observing a chimp she had named David Greybeard, Goodall said she saw the chimp use a blade of grass to extract termites from a mound. 

At that point, Western science believed only humans made and used tools — no other animals.

“Now we have to redefine ‘tools,’ redefine ‘man’ or accept chimpanzees as humans,” Goodall recalled renowned paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey telling her after she shared her discovery. 

Goodall’s research also reimagined how scientists viewed animals’ personalities and emotions. Despite it being deemed unscientific, Goodall named the chimpanzees she studied and advocated that each chimp had its own distinct personality the same way humans do. 

Goodall said she watched chimps greet each other, hold hands and pat one another on the back. She recalled times where she watched two male chimpanzees fight for dominance. 

“It was really horrifying to discover that, like us, they have a dark and brutal side,” Goodall said. 

After her speech, Goodall did a Q&A with Biswas who shared questions young students had for Goodall about Roots and Shoots, her activism and her research. 

During the Q&A, Goodall turned towards the audience and asked a question back. 

“How many young people here want to help make the world better?” she said. 

Hands shot up in the crowd. 

Goodall said the young people in Roots and Shoots and their “indomitable human spirit” give her the most hope. She thanked those willing to help for protecting the earth for her grandchildren and her grandchildren’s grandchildren. 

“It’s very simple,” Goodall told the audience. “Join Roots and Shoots.”

View the full photo gallery from the Roots and Shoots Event Sept. 13 here.