Jane Goodall is clear about it: humanity maintains an unsustainable relationship with nature and with the world in general that must change for us and for future generations that will inhabit the planet. This is what the famous primatologist thinks and has made it known to several international media after receiving this year’s Templeton Prize , an award of 1.5 million dollars that honors people who “harness the power of science to explore the deepest issues of the universe and the place and purpose of humanity in it “, as indicated by the John Templeton Foundation, which awards the award. Previous recipients include the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.
The coronavirus pandemic that has hit the entire globe for more than a year is one of the examples that, according to the primatologist, highlights the need for humans to develop a new and more sustainable relationship with nature. “Basically, we have caused this pandemic by our lack of respect for the natural world, bringing animals closer to people and making it easier for a pathogen to jump from an animal to a person ,” Goodall said in an interview with AFP. “Hopefully this pandemic has awakened people. We must develop a new relationship with the natural world.” Although the exact origin of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is still unknown, most scientists point out that the virus originated in an animal before jumping to humans.
Goodall has also spoken about the growing human population and how it is “very possible” that nature is in charge of managing their numbers. “ It is quite possible that nature actually manages the human population for us . This pandemic has been a challenge, hasn’t it? If we don’t change our attitude towards the natural world and animals, there will be more pandemics, ”he told the Huffington Post .
Regarding the unbridled economic development that we seem to be heading towards, Goodall reminds us that we inhabit a planet with finite resources and that both the number of human beings and their livestock are only growing . “We have to produce some kind of sustainable population, especially livestock. Commercial agriculture is destroying huge areas of habitat to grow the grain to feed all these billions of animals, and a lot of fossil fuels are being used in the process, “he told The Guardian .
To end on a more encouraging note, Goodall emphasized that humans have all the “tools,” the “language,” and the “technology” to make the right decisions . “We have the tools. We have the language. We have scientific technology. We understand that if we make the right decisions every day and billions of people make them, we can move in the right direction, “he told the Huffington Post .
