Jane Goodall painted an alarming picture of the state of the earth. Climate change, large-scale hunting of chimpanzees for bushmeat, mining and oil companies building roads through the rain forest, and the end of antibiotics. Goodall thinks human beings are paradoxical. On the one hand the human is the most intelligent species of animal, and on the other hand we are destroying our own habitat.
The audience was mainly interested in Goodall as a person. ‘You really got a personal story, not a lecture,’ says Nina Vergoossen, fifth year Animal Sciences. ‘I was enthralled from start to finish. Long after the talk there was an impressive line of people queuing up for a signature.