Doha: Scientist, humanitarian, and environmental activist Dr. Jane Goodall has urged the next generation of innovators to take action in tackling sustainability challenges as Qatar Foundation brought together students from Qatar and from 13 schools from around the world for a conference focusing on how to build a more sustainable world.
Despite growing threats to wildlife, people, and ecosystems, Dr. Goodall said she still has hope for the future and encouraged students to make a difference in the world.
“People need to understand that we are actually part of the natural world,” she said. “We depend on it for food, for water, for clothing, for clean air, for everything. But what we most depend on is a healthy ecosystem.
“We have lived for so long with a crazy idea that there can be unlimited economic development on a planet with finite natural resources and a growing human population. I see the human species right now as being at the mouth of a long, dark tunnel. And right at the end of that tunnel, a little star is shining. That is hope.
“But we don’t sit at the mouth of the tunnel and hope that that light will come to us. We have to roll up our sleeves, crawl under, climb over, and work our way around all the problems that lie between us and hope. That’s what these young people are here for today.”
Goodall also spoke of the importance of looking at the whole picture when trying to solve an environmental issue in a way that considers the whole ecosystem: “We can close down a coal mine, and all its emissions are prevented from going into the atmosphere.
“But at the same time, we’re probably causing hundreds of people to lose their jobs, and they, in turn, are going to harm the environment as they struggle to survive, which is why we need to address balance and alleviate poverty.”
