Ellie Goulding credits Dr. Jane Goodall with turning her “private obsession” with environmentalism into a lifelong mission. Over the years, the two crossed paths several times, with Goulding even serving as an ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute in the U.K. She’s since become a Global Environmental Ambassador for the United Nations and a consistent advocate for climate action.
Just a day after the trailblazing primatologist and conservationist died at 91 of “natural causes,” the pop star and activist shares a tribute for Goodall with Rolling Stone.
They say never meet your heroines, but I’m so glad I got to meet Dr. Jane Goodall.
As I nervously approached her the first time, I think I was expecting a serious, slightly aloof conservationist. But she was breathtakingly real, with the kind of aura around her that felt like being in the presence of a true rockstar. Kind and gentle, compelling and bright. I hung on her every word.
Her knowledge wasn’t handed down in textbooks or lectures. It was original, gained from her work in Tanzania, and a mix of her observation of the chimpanzees she lived among, and the data. She challenged every principle that the intensely male-dominated discipline of conservation held dear. Despite hostility from the scientific community, she revolutionized not one but two scientific disciplines: primatology and conservation.
Jane has single-handedly taught the world so much. She gave us permission (and the scientific rationale) to appreciate the personalities of the chimpanzees she observed, especially David Greybeard. Without Jane, we might not know the potential and extent of connection.
With her relentless curiosity and research, we know that intelligence, compassion, and emotional depth are not unique to humans — nor are we the only ones that use tools. We learned we are closer to other species than we thought, and that we could still learn a lot from them.
To be in the presence of this iconoclast was quite something.
I first met Jane when I was starting my own journey as a nature and climate advocate. It was scary to turn what felt like a private obsession into a public tool for campaigning on behalf of serious organizations. I knew I felt so deeply about the natural world, its beauty and vulnerability, but she helped me to really focus and campaign.
Jane was a genius and a badass communicator on behalf of species and habitats that lack a voice. Through her, I learned that any attempt to exist with the idea that humans are separate from nature was delusional. She, more than anyone, understood that we are all in this together and that when we fail to protect nature, we fail to protect ourselves.
I am so grateful she has given us this legacy. Especially now, in these turbulent and strange times, we have at least a chance, individually and collectively, to remember what really matters: our natural world, and really reconnect with it the way Jane knew was crucial to our very existence.
There is no health, no music, no business, and no prosperity on a dead planet.
