On the Environment: Despite setbacks, hope prevails

The news continues to be dire with the ongoing pandemic, wars and gun violence, fires and tornados. It is certainly a difficult time for all of us. It is a time of distrust, disillusionment, and uncertainty.
Despite the gloom, Desmond Tutu, encouraged us to keep facing the light. He said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.” Reading “The Book of Hope, A Survival Guide for Trying Times,” an interview of Jane Goodall, gave me a glimmer of hope.
According to Jane, “Hope is what enables us to keep going in the face of adversity. It is what we desire to happen, but must be prepared to work hard to make it so.” Jane believes that hope is essentially a survival trait and without it we perish. Hope encourages us to act, and then our actions generate more hope.
Hope is what gave Jane the courage, as a young woman with little scientific training, to venture out into the wilds of Africa and wait for months to gain the trust of chimpanzees. Hope is what led her to leave Africa and work for the humane treatment of chimps and the end of animal testing.
Today, at the age of 87, hope still spurs her on. She is an outspoken environmental advocate, speaking on the effects of climate change and its threat to endangered species.
Jane shares four specific reasons for hope. The first is the amazing human intellect that helps us imagine, create, and solve problems. Jane believes our intellect can be used for both good and evil and our environment determines which prevails. She believes we need to use both our hearts and heads to solve the challenging problems of our time.
Her second reason for hope is the amazing tapestry of life and the resilience of nature. Our earth has been gifted with rich biodiversity, life which is constantly evolving and adapting to change. Soils can be replenished, barren hillsides reforested, and endangered species brought back from the brink. Once destruction is over, nature, given the time and opportunity, often heals itself..

Jane’s third reason for hope is the power of young people. She created a global movement called Roots & Shoots that empowers young people to solve local problems and protect the environment. It has hundreds of thousands of members from kindergarten through university who use their enthusiasm and creativity to make a difference.
In her words, “What gives me hope is that everywhere I go, young people filled with energy want to show me what they’ve done and what they’re doing to make the world a better place.” Many younger people are not afraid to link environmental issues with social justice and brave enough to challenge their elders to act.
Jane’s final reason for hope is what she calls the indomitable human spirit. It is what helps us set even impossible goals and strive till we get there, like reaching the moon or climbing Mt. Everest. It is what helps us persist in the face of adversity, nurture our children, and care for one another with both courage and compassion.
Jane Goodall challenges us to become messengers of hope, to work together and do our part to slow down climate change and species extinction, to make ethical choices in how we behave so that we can move toward a more sustainable world.
I am grateful for Jane’s wisdom and insights, the work she has done and is doing. I will try to do my part and invite you to join Jane in creating a more peaceful, just, and hopeful environment for all beings.
Debra Orben lives in Springtown.

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