Environmental Awareness – Live Laugh Love Do http://livelaughlovedo.com A Super Fun Site Thu, 02 Oct 2025 07:11:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 Her Passion for Responsible Animal Tourism—and Her Hope for the Future http://livelaughlovedo.com/her-passion-for-responsible-animal-tourism-and-her-hope-for-the-future/ http://livelaughlovedo.com/her-passion-for-responsible-animal-tourism-and-her-hope-for-the-future/#respond Thu, 02 Oct 2025 07:11:28 +0000 http://livelaughlovedo.com/2025/10/02/her-passion-for-responsible-animal-tourism-and-her-hope-for-the-future/ [ad_1]

When I caught up with Dr. Jane Goodall in 2023, she was visiting the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies in Colorado, where she gave three lectures to local school children on behalf of the Jane Goodall Institute and her youth organization Roots & Shoots. It was early autumn in Colorado, and the last hummingbirds of summer dashed from flower to flower before embarking on their fall migration. The animal expert, who admits to not only loving birds, but all living things, was in her element among the wild landscape.

Then 89 and still traveling more than 300 days per year for in-person events, Dr. Goodall was brilliant as ever. As we mourn her Oct. 1 passing, T+L is taking a look back at our 2023 interview with the trailblazing zoologist:

Travel + Leisure: I’m interested in your thoughts on the role animal and conservation tourism can play in developing nations, particularly those in Africa. How can tourism benefit local ecosystems and resident wildlife? 

Jane Goodall: Well, it’s got two sides to it. The main answer is, how is the place tourism managed? That’s the absolute key. In many countries, the government finds that people will pay to go and see, for example, mountain gorillas in Rwanda. So the researchers there said, ‘No more than six people at a time, and they can’t stay more than an hour.’ Well, the governments there think, ‘Okay, we get all this money for six. Now we’ll map it to twelve.’ These areas are getting too many tourists and it’s affecting the animals. That’s killing the goose that lays the golden egg. 

Is there a solution? Can one be a responsible traveler?

I don’t have the solution, and sometimes tourism exploits the animals terribly. But tourism, well-managed, is very important for various reasons. One, it has a major effect on the people on the tour, especially if they have a knowledgeable local guide who knows not only about lions and elephants, but birds and maybe butterflies, so that even if you don’t see the big things, you can be entertained. And the benefits the country gets means the national parks get more money, too. There’s a lot of employment in the parks and nearby hospitality — at hotels and restaurants — which provides lots and lots of jobs. The local people begin to see a value to the animals. 

Dr. Jane Goodall speaking at Gonzaga University.

Rajah Bose/Gonzaga University


You’re right. Being in the place and actually seeing the animals in their habitat with your own eyes makes you want to fight to protect it.

There’s no question about it. When you look into a chimpanzee’s eyes, a gorilla’s eyes, or an elephant’s, it changes you. 

Part of your relentless worldwide schedule is to reassure people that hope for the environment is not lost, and that even individual actions can make a difference.

Individuals can do their part even if it’s just not using pesticide on their lawns or supporting places for hummingbirds or bees. It can be that simple. Not eating meat or not eating meat one day a week to start with. Industrialized meat is bad for you, it’s horrible for the animals, and it’s destroying the environment. So even if everybody on the planet who’s still eating meat stopped eating it for just one day and then two days, it would make a huge difference. 

Your lectures lately focus on the idea that there is hope for a better world. I share in your optimism, but sometimes it feels like things get darker and darker. What drives you to keep going?

I wouldn’t keep going if I didn’t know that going to a place makes a difference. And I only know that because people tell me. I get letters saying ‘I’d given up. But after your lecture, I promise you I’ll do my bit.’ Hundreds of young people have written to say joining Roots & Shoots was the best thing [they] ever did. Even in Tanzania, a 12-year-old boy said, ‘Until Roots & Shoots, I didn’t know animals had feelings. Now, I’ll never hurt another animal as long as I live.’ That’s amazing. 

Are you still surprised this is the way your life has unfolded? The amazing legacy you’ve been able to create?

The only way I can cope with this craziness is by saying, well, there’s two Janes, this one, I’m talking to you, perfectly normal, and then there’s the icon that was created by National Geographic and so on. I go through an airport with dark glasses and my hair down, and still people recognized me. So I thought, well, okay, the only thing to do is to make use of it, so I’ll use it. 

And after, when – if – you finally decide to stop traveling, who will be the next Jane Goodall? Do you think that the next Jane will be one of these children who have heard your message? 

I think there’ll be a lot of Jane Goodalls springing up. I mean, nobody can be me. I’ve lived 90 years. You can’t expect a child to know all the things that you learn in 90 years. But passion, commitment, dedication, children today have all of these. Some children are doing amazing things. They give me hope that that nature can come back if you give it a chance, even totally destroyed places. And animals on the brink can be given another chance. 

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Who We Are

Local or organic? Hybrid or electric? Paper or plastic or neither? Nearly all decisions today affect the environment, and figuring out which choices matter most often feels impossible. 

That’s why we made Treehugger, the only modern sustainability site that offers advice, clarity, and inspiration for both the eco-savvy and the green-living novice. With 2.6 million monthly users, Treehugger is one of the world’s largest information sites dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream.

Staying informed and making smart choices is critical during this time of environmental change and opportunity. But our nearly 20-year-strong library of sustainability content is here to help. Our articles can give you the confidence to purchase a better dishwasher, build a green beauty routine, or simply learn more about the world around you.

We don’t care if you’re just starting to BYO bags or have been composting for decades, welcome to Treehugger. Sustainability for all.

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Treehugger was founded by entrepreneur and eco-advocate Graham Hill in 2004. With a background in architecture and design, Hill’s vision was for the site to serve as a vehicle for driving sustainability mainstream – and to do so with a modern twist.

In 2007, TIME included Treehugger in their selection of “Top 25 Blogs” and Nielsen Online ranked Treehugger as the number one sustainability blog. The small staff grew into an international team of experts, and more accolades followed.

The site was acquired by Discovery Communications in 2007, and in 2012 Mother Nature Network (part of the Narrative Content Group) took over. In 2020, both Mother Nature Network and Treehugger were acquired by Dotdash Meredith, where they are now one big happy family.

In a 2004 post about the criteria Treehugger would use in deciding what to cover, the team explained that the primary goal of the site was to make it easy for consumers to research and purchase environmental yet compelling products and services, as well as to inspire corporate responsibility. “TreeHugger’s criterion will evolve over time,” they wrote. “Our initial approach will be loose as we get our sea-legs.” 

We’ve grown a lot since then, and we’re steady on our feet. But the Treehugger mission remains true to those original values, and we will continue driving sustainability mainstream until the job is done. 

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Tim Fisher has been with Dotdash Meredith since 2006, working in various roles in the company. Before joining Dotdash Meredith, he was a systems engineer for Target Corporation; prior to that he sold, installed, and serviced networking equipment for a small telecommunications company. Fisher has been quoted or referenced in hundreds of major online and print publications, including The New York Times, Scientific American, Vice, ZDNet, Computerworld, Fox News, Engadget, Digital Trends, Yahoo Finance, Gizmodo, and PCMag.

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