Jane Goodall

Were you ever afraid?

Sometimes — when the chimps began to lose their fear, they became extraordinarily aggressive, and they’re all eight, 10 times stronger than you are. They treated me like a predator, like they would treat a leopard. So their hair’s sticking out, and they’re screaming, and they’re up in a tree, swaying branches, hitting my head with it. Fortunately, while it was going on, I wasn’t scared. I thought, oh, it’ll be all right, I’m meant to be here. [I] dug little holes in the ground, ate leaves, didn’t look at them, and indeed, as I hoped, they went away. It was afterwards, though, that my legs were all shaky.

What are you afraid of now?

Not death, per se. Because it’s either nothing, or something, in which case, that’ll be very exciting. But I think one is afraid of getting decrepit and all that. [For the world] I think we’ve got to tackle poverty, the unsustainable lifestyle of the rest of us, and human population growth. Those three things, it’s led to climate change and all the rest of it. We’ve got to make change somehow, or else what’ll it be like in 50 years? I’m afraid for my grandchildren’s children.

What can we do to help this gloomy situation? I meet so many incredible people doing amazing things, saving animals on the brink of extinction, restoring the forest, cleaning up a river. It’s knowing what can be done that gives people the courage to fight.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/movies/jane-goodall-documentary-marriage.html