On October 1, 2025, renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall passed away at 91 years old — a loss that reverberated around the world.
In July, mere months before Goodall’s passing, she spent three weeks in Tanzania with Dax Dasilva, the founder of the environmental nonprofit Age of Union. Dasilva is also the executive producer of “Jane, Just Jane,” a forthcoming documentary about Goodall’s career, which spanned 27 countries and five continents.
During their trip together, which marked Goodall’s final trip to Africa, the two sat down for a formal 20-minute interview. In it, they looked back on Goodall’s legacy — and forward to the importance of everyone pitching in to safeguard the planet for generations to come.
“In the long run, the bigger change will be from the young people,” Goodall told Dasilva in the interview, which officially aired on Earth Day. “It’s not true that older people can’t change, because they do. You know, I’ve had many, many older people come up after the election and say, ‘Well, Jane, I’d given up, but I promise you now, I’ll do my bit.’”
Circling back to young people, Goodall reflected on the advice that her own mother had given her as a young adult.
“I can’t think of anything better,” she said. “She said, ‘Jane, if you really want to do something like this, you’re going to have to work really hard. Take advantage of every opportunity. And if you don’t give up, I’m sure you’ll find a way.”
“There’s no better advice than that,” she added.
The two also discussed Goodall’s various conservation projects across Tanzania, including her groundbreaking fieldwork studying primates in the Gombe Stream National Park in the 1960s.
Goodall touched on how deforestation had reshaped Gombe when she revisited the area twenty years later.
“By the mid-1980s, when I flew over, I saw to my horror, just a little island of forest that was gone,” Goodall said. “And that’s when it hit me.”
“These people are cutting down the trees to make money from chalk or timber or more land to grow more food because their population is growing,” she explained.
“If we can’t help them find ways of making a living without destroying the environment, we can’t save chimps, forests, or anything else. Including people, actually, in the long run.”
Towards the end of the interview, Dasilva prompted Goodall to offer words of wisdom for people who are feeling overwhelmed and disheartened by the state of the world.
“Tell me more about having hope and how it connects to taking action,” Dasilva said.
“If you don’t have hope that your actions are making a difference, what’s the point of doing them?” she asked in return.
“People come to me and say, ‘Well, look at the world, look at the wars, look at the destruction of the environment, of poverty, the suffering, the destruction of the soil with industrial agriculture. What can I do? I’m just one person. It’s overwhelming. It’s overwhelming.’”
“And we have this stupid saying, think globally, act locally, but no,” she said. “Act locally first and do something.”
“What do you care about in your community?” she continued. “Maybe you don’t like the litter … do something, organize beach cleanups, get a group together to plant trees where there’s a little area from, you know, nothing growing.”
“Just do something that’ll make you feel better,” Goodall emphasized. “And then you want to do more, and then you will inspire others to join in.”
See the full interview below:
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Header image via Age of Union
