Goodall, Simard, and Morales
Jane Goodall passed from this world October 1, 2025.
She recorded a message to the world to be released on the day of her death
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It is available for viewing as the first of “The Famous Last Words” Documentary Series by Netflix, recorded March 2025.
The Famous Last Words of Dr. Jane Goodall
“In the place where I am now I look back over my life. I look back at the world I’ve left behind. What message do I want to leave? I want to make sure that you all understand that each and everyone of you has a role to play.
“You may not know it. You may not find it. But your life matters, and you are here for a reason. And I just hope that reason will become apparent as you live through your life. I want you to know that whether or not you find that role that you’re supposed to play, your life does matter. And that every single day you live, you make a difference in the world and you get to choose the difference you make. I want you to understand that we are a part of the natural world.
“And even today, when the planet is dark, there still is hope. Don’t lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic and do nothing. And if you want to save what is still beautiful in this world, if you want to save the planet for the future generations, your grandchildren, their grandchildren, then think about the actions you take each day. Because multiplied a million a billion times, even small actions will make for great change.”
Jane Goodall, primatologist, ethologist and anthropologist known for 60 years studying chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park. Her research, since 1960, made groundbreaking discoveries about chimpanzee behavior, including their use of tools and omnivorous diet. Goodall’s work challenged the assumption that tool use was unique to humans, paving the way for further research into animal cognition.
Jane Goodall posted this on Instagram on September 30, 2025:
“Chimpanzee societies work a little differently than our own. Instead of staying in one fixed group, chimps live in what’s called a fission fusion social system,”
“What does that mean? Chimp communities are large and deeply bonded, but they often split into smaller groups during the day to forage, rest, or explore, and then come back together later. This constant shifting allows them to adapt to changing resources and manage social tensions,” the captioned continued. “It is a delicate balance of cooperation and independence, strategy and survival. One day you might travel with your closest ally. The next week, with a former rival. This kind of flexibility keeps the group strong, relationships dynamic, and the social scene full of surprises. Fission fusion is not chaos. It is intelligence in motion.”
Jane Goodall wrote her last book, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, that was released October 19, 2021.
The Book of Hope is a tribute to what fueled her boundless mission to make the world a better place – her reasons for hope. It is a collaboration with Douglas Abrams.
Jane focuses on her “Reasons for Hope,” which include the Human Intellect, the Resilience of Nature, the Power of Young People, and the Indomitable Human Spirit. Using stories from her remarkable life, research, and career, The Book of Hope explores questions like: How do we stay hopeful? How do we inspire hope in the next generation?
Goodall’s words and hopes are edifying in facing the stark realities of our world today to which she responds with calm, quiet, yet sanguine hope. Jane Goodall recommends readers to the insights of Suzanne Simard who wrote Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.
Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree, describes the “WWW—-Wood Wide Web” as an underground network of fungal and root connections where trees share resources like carbon, water, and nutrients, often cooperating rather than competing. She emphasizes the crucial role of Mother Trees, the oldest and largest in a forest, which act as central hubs connecting and supporting other trees, including seedlings. Simard compares this network to the human brain, with signals transmitted through chemicals, ions, and hormones, and concludes that the forest is “wired for wisdom, sentience, and healing”.
This recommendation is from the alley Newspaper.
The Land Knows the Way: Eco-Social Insights for Liberation, by Ricardo Levins Morales, local Artist, Author, Visionary, and Historian,* offers ways to creatively and effectively respond to living in times that are, on the one hand, unprecedented and unique, and on the other, part of longstanding and familiar historical cycles. If we are to learn from what history and ecology have to teach us, we need to become reacquainted with both. But don’t expect a road map. From the preface:
“There’s no map with our route marked out for us. Maps are useful instruments. They are like a snapshot of the lay of the land at a moment in time. But in a landscape constantly shifting, they are not enough. Effective strategies do not emerge from certainties, but from attentiveness. We need to be able to read the land—in its natural, social, and historical dimensions—sense changes in wind direction, identify opportunities and spot hidden dangers.”
*See https://www.rlmstudios.com video of a Book Release Event, February 6th 2025, with Author Ricardo Levins Morales moderated by Autumn Brown at Moon Palace Books for an exceptional discussion of his incredible coalescing of environmental and social history through art and prose.
