By: Kotryna Kanclerytė – Cohort 1
When news about tragedies all around the world are delivered to you by a push notification every five minutes, it can feel that the Earth stops spinning around the Sun and starts to spin out of control. Through the haze of the carousel-like spinning, you try to make out a future where there are less floodings, wars, and other disasters. Something drops in your stomach, and you realise that you are the one who can help to make it happen. You understand that you are only one person, but if you have a strong spirit, a support system, and work hard enough, you can be a voice of change.
This feeling is hope, says Jane Goodall, a famous primatologist and climate change activist, now working all around the world to spread the feeling of hope in the face of adversity. ”The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times” tells a story how this incredible woman went from being a secretary to a renowned scientist, established an organization to help conserve and restore the environment, and now is an ambassador of hope, speaking everywhere from local communities in Gombe to the UN.
She says that hope is different from wishful thinking, optimism or having fate – it requires taking action. If you hope, you must be determined to make things happen. Jane has four main reasons why she never loses hope:
1) Amazing human intellect
From the ability to use language to creating high-tech solutions, humans are lucky to have a brain that acts differently than the rest of alive organisms. Just as humans created tools and unsustainable processes that destroy the planet, they can create amazing things that nurture the world. Jane Goodall also adds that intelligence and intellect are two different things: “intellectual does not mean intelligent. An intelligent animal would not destroy its only home, which is what we have been doing for a long time”.
2) The resilience of nature
Jane tells a story of a tree that survived the September 11th attack, reminisces about the ancient trees that are still growing in Nagasaki, destroyed rainforests growing again, almost extinct animal species growing stronger – all proving that nature is extremely resilient. She says that it would be very dangerous to take this as a free pass to continue harmful practices, but the same fact carries a lot of hope that with our help the nature can once again flourish.
3) The power of young people
Jane Goodall says that the new generation of young people (and that probably includes you too, dear reader!) gives her a lot of hope. She says that they (we) are way more informed about the current environmental and social situation of the planet, and often decide to do something about it. Jane’s institute also has a program for the youth called “Roots and Shoots”, where young people create projects to solve local problems.
4) Indomitable human spirit
This final reason can be explained with a belief in a greater power, the universe or mystery of nature in general. It is the fact that humans have a tendency not to break when disaster falls, survive it, nurse themselves back to health and then become beacons of hope themselves.
If you too have a gentler heart and sometimes feel overwhelmed on your pursuit to help the Earth, your loved ones or even yourself – pick up Jane’s book. It can provide you with a little bit of support for when everything seems impossible. (It’s not – hope!)
“Hope is different from wishful thinking, optimism or having fate – it requires taking action.”
This line is my Monday Motivation ☺