Science & Tech, Home & Lifestyle, Community & Government
Roots & Shoots (Cont'd)
Lesson time 10:18 min
Learn the basic tenets of Roots & Shoots—and the meaning behind its name.
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Topics include: One Human Family Globe • Naming Roots & Shoots • Roots & Shoots at Work
Teaches Conservation
Dr. Jane Goodall shares her insights into animal intelligence, conservation, and activism.
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One of the things that I love most about Roots and Shoots, which is actually why I was made a UN messenger of peace, is because young people are beginning to understand that we are one human family. One young man from Tanzania said to me, when I first went to America, I knew nobody. But I found a group of Roots and Shoots, and I found my family, because we shared the same values. One teacher who was teaching Roots and Shoots in Singapore never left Singapore. And she went off to a conference, a teacher's conference, in Canada. And she said I felt so homesick, so lonely, I didn't know anybody. And I was standing in the cafeteria waiting to pick up my lunch, and I heard some people talking about Roots and Shoots And she said, I went over and said to them, you know about Roots and Shoots? And they said, yes we do. And we began to talk, and she said, I wasn't lonely anymore. Because I found people who shared the same values. And I think one thing that's really important, we try to bring people together from different nations, different cultures, different religions. I mean, you bring together a group of young people like that. You can be in a room with people with different colored skin, people with different kinds of clothes, people who do have different cultures, different cultural foods, people with different religions, people with no religion. And we can seem very different. But the DNA analysis, the unraveling of the human genome, now shows us that if you take blood from all these different people, its the same. We are one human family. And if we hurt ourselves, we bleed. The blood is the same. If we laugh, we laugh because we have an emotion that makes us laugh, and feel good. And it doesn't matter what your culture or religion. You share that moment of joy. If you weep, it can be from some deep feeling of sadness, and that can be shared. Even if you can't speak another language. The tears are the same. And so Roots and Shoots is very much about helping young people to understand that there isn't a sharp line dividing people of different nations, different cultures, different religions. And so important, there is not a sharp line dividing us from the other animals. Chimps taught us that to start with, and now we know it goes right through the animal kingdom. We are part of an amazing animal kingdom, and there's still so much to learn about it, and about ourselves. [MUSIC PLAYING] Why is the program called Roots and Shoots? Well, probably many people if they close their eyes can think of a beautiful tree. I think of the beech tree I climbed as a child. And when my beech tree began to grow, the seed is about so big. And when it began to grow, little white roots would have appeared, and a little chute would have appeared. And I could have picked it up. It would just seem so small, so weak, so insignificant. Bu...
About the Instructor
There is still a window of time. Nature can win if we give her a chance. In her first ever online class, Dr. Jane Goodall teaches how you can conserve the environment. She also shares her research on the behavioral patterns of chimpanzees and what they taught her about conservation. You'll learn how to act locally and protect the planet.
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Dr. Jane Goodall
Dr. Jane Goodall shares her insights into animal intelligence, conservation, and activism.
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