>INTERVIEW :: Philosopher Richard David Precht in conversation with Jane Goodall (in 2022, zdf.de)
Das Herrentier: Herkunft und Zukunft der Menschheit
They talk about the fascinating life of chimpanzees - and the uncertain future of humanity. Not only are chimpanzees an endangered species, but the time left for humans on Earth seems to be slowly running out. Mankind is destroying their habitat. Where does Jane Goodall get her confidence that we can still turn the tide?
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?Do we lack foresight and reason, and the ability to collectively change our behavior?
?Could the growing environmental awareness, especially among younger people, result in tangible measures after all?
?Does the "master animal" have it in him to prevent the self-made destruction of the earth in time? Richard David Precht talks about this with Jane Goodall.
DE: Fehlt es uns an Weitsicht und Vernunft und an der Fähigkeit, unser Verhalten kollektiv zu verändern? Könnten aus dem wachsenden Umweltbewusstsein vor allem der Jüngeren doch noch handfeste Maßnahmen resultieren? Trägt es das "Herrentier" in sich, die selbst gemachte Zerstörung der Erde noch rechtzeitig zu verhindern? Darüber spricht Richard David Precht mit Jane Goodall.
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Will the earth become uninhabitable because of the "master animal"?
The zoologist Ernst Haeckel once translated the natural scientist Carl von Linné's term "primates" as "master animals". In his 18th century work Systema Naturae, the Swede counted apes as well as humans among the primates, the first and highest rank of all mammals.
Today, not only the last reserves for apes and other wild animals are threatening to disappear at an alarming rate. If the industrialized countries continue to exploit the planet as they have in the past, it could also become uninhabitable for humans in 100 years.
Commitment to preserving the planet
Today, Jane Goodall is considered the world's most prominent ambassador for environmental protection and species conservation. As a young woman in the early 1960s, she began researching the behavior of chimpanzees with extraordinary empathy and without any previous scientific training, and gathered groundbreaking insights.
To put it bluntly, we are likely nearing the end of humanity and the great apes if we do nothing and do not act quickly.
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire)
In the mid-1980s, she realized that she must use her fame to the fullest for the protection not only of her beloved apes, but for the preservation of the entire planet. She left her beloved Gombe in Tanzania, where her career began and where she established a research center for long-term studies on chimpanzees, with a heavy heart, and has since spent 300 days a year - now 88 years old - traveling the globe to raise public awareness of the rapid destruction of nature.
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