Jane Goodall only wants one thing

When I caught up with Jane Goodall in 2019, she was calling on consumers and businesses to make responsible choices and protect the natural world.

Now she is telling people something much more simple: vote.

The celebrated primatologist thinks governments around the globe are not working hard enough to combat climate change. And in a year when more than 40 countries — including the United States, India and South Africa — will be electing their leaders, Goodall is telling anyone who will listen that the health of Earth itself is on the ballot.

“Half of the population of the planet is going to be voting,” she said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. “This year could be the most consequential voting year in terms of the fate of our planet.”

As my colleague Manuela Andreoni wrote last week, the leaders elected this year will face consequential choices on energy policy, deforestation and emissions reductions. In the United States, Republicans are planning to undo environmental regulations if former president Donald J. Trump wins re-election. In Mexico, the favorite to win the presidency in June is Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist who is now mayor of Mexico City and has vowed to take action to reduce emissions.

Goodall noted that the outcomes of national elections can have profound and immediate impacts. She pointed to Brazil, where two years ago, voters ousted the far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, and brought back President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Overnight, Lula abandoned Bolsonaro’s laissez faire approach to environmental regulation and redoubled efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.

Similar swings in policy will reverberate around the world as people go to the polls in the months to come, Goodall said: “Every vote matters, more this year than perhaps any time in history.”

‘The wealthy are being hit’

Goodall refrained from endorsing specific candidates.

But she believes that as extreme weather batters every corner of the globe, more voters were coming to understand that climate policies matter.

“When climate change began to make itself known, it was Bangladesh and the poorer countries that were suffering,” she said. “Now the wealthy are being hit. The industrialized countries are being hit where it hurts them economically.”

In the United States alone last year, there were 28 storms, wildfires or other disasters that each cost at least $1 billion or more in damages, my colleague Christopher Flavelle reported this month.

“There are floods in New York, floods in Britain, floods in several parts of Europe, unprecedented heat waves killing people in France,” Goodall told me. “It has changed.”

Yet in what is expected to be a tight race between President Biden and Trump, climate is not one of the dominant issues of the campaign. Inasmuch as it is a factor, it is often invoked by activists who believe the Biden administration is not doing enough to curb emissions, or by Trump with promises to expand oil and gas drilling.

Goodall also expressed hope that companies could do more to reduce emissions. Just as voters might respond to climate crises at the polls, she said corporations might begin funneling their lobbying dollars toward candidates who prioritized climate issues.

“I’m hoping that because companies are being hit economically, some of them will think, ‘Well, we better put a bit more money into the right politicians,’” she said.

‘An all of the above moment’

Goodall, who turns 90 in a few months, was in Davos talking up her efforts to educate young people about the plight of the natural world — and to bend the ear of the policymakers and C.E.O.s who sought her out for selfies.

Elections, she said, matter to the degree that they help preserve the natural world.

“The ecosystem is this tapestry of interconnected plants and animals, and each single one has a role to play,” she said. “When a species becomes extinct, it’s like pulling a thread. And if enough threads are pulled, the tapestry hangs in tatters. The ecosystem will collapse.”

Goodall, who spent decades living in the jungle studying chimpanzees, is not dogmatic in her approach to fighting climate change.

“We need the technology,” she said. “We need transfer to renewable energy. We need to stop subsidizing fossil fuel companies. We must think about human population with its cattle. It’s an all-of-the-above moment.”

But she said those policies will only be enacted by leaders who appreciate the gravity of the crises facing planet Earth.

“We’ve got to get the message out there for people to understand, and then they’ll vote in the right way,” she said. “Then they’ll understand how important it is for their children, and their children’s children.”

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Pollinator Week is an annual event celebrated internationally in support of pollinator health.

So, what exactly are pollinators? Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce.

If you enjoy coffee, chocolate, apples, almonds, and many other foods that are part of our daily lives, you may be surprised to learn that without pollinators they might no longer exist. About 35 percent of the world’s food crops are the result of pollinating species, an essential component in global food production.

Learning about the importance and benefits of pollinators on the world’s food supply is the idea behind the 4-H Pollinator Habitat Program. The three-year program aims to teach 30,000 youth nationwide about the importance of pollinators and pollinator habitats, while encouraging the establishment of quality pollinator habitats at 22 sites across the country.

The program features a “Teens as Teachers” approach which is a true win-win for kids. The young people learn skills from teen ambassadors they look up to while 4-H teens develop their leadership skills through teaching.

The great thing about Pollinator Week is that you can celebrate and get involved any way you like! Kids can take part in craft activities by making their own ants from clothes pins and pipe cleaners, or designing a butterfly using a coffee filter and food dye, among many other ideas found on the 4-H website. https://www.4-h.org or http://www.4-h.org/corteva

4-H teen ambassador Grace Moeller from Minnesota will join Rancher & 4-H Mom Natalie Kovarik to discuss the 4-H Pollinator Habitat Program, how kids can get involved during National Pollinator Week, and the importance of the program for the future of U.S. agriculture and the global food supply.

Grace Moeller
Grace is a 17-year-old Pollinator Ambassador from Blue Earth County, Minnesota. She is passionate about pollinators, climate change, and the outdoors. Grace loves to ride horses, design clothes, and run Cross Country + Track and Field.

Natalie Kovarik
From the heart of the Nebraska Sandhills, Natalie Kovarik shares her ranching and familying story to showcase the beauty behind the western lifestyle as well as foster a community that supports and trusts in agriculture as much as she does. Most of her days are spent bouncing around in a dusty old tractor or out in pasture on horseback, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. With roots firmly planted in the ranching community, she aims to spend her time advocating for rural life while collecting meaningful moments on her ranch with her ever-growing family.

Interview is courtesy: National 4-H Council & Corteva AgriScience
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