Learning from Jane Goodall

Yesterday I had the good fortune to hear the celebrated chimpanzee authority Jane Goodall speak at a school in Yokohama. Some 600 people--elementary, middle and high schools students plus teachers and parents--crowded into the school gym. Outside the temperature was about 30 degrees C, and the temperature inside the packed, unairconditioned gym rose uncomfortably as we waited for Jane Goodall to step up to the podium; we flapped fans, mopped our faces with handkerchiefs, and I wondered how on earth she would hold our collective attention for an hour in the heat without any slide show or visuals.

But from the moment she began her talk with her chimpanzee greeting to the audience until the final question from a young student--about Dr. Goodall's influential and ever supportive mother--we were all riveted. 
Midway through the talk she reminded us as we wilted in our chairs that gathering without air conditioning was a good thing for the earth.

Afterward kids, parents and teachers alike spoke enthusiastically, clearly motivated to make the world a better place for people, animals and nature...individually or through the Roots and Shoots program.

It reassured me to hear the enthusiasm from all the students, and it reassured me to see that an engaging talk on the environment without a powerpoint or video backup, even in a hot school gym, could hold the attention of the young and old in this age of high-tech distractions.