Today's must-read interview: Amy Goodman with Jane Goodall, who's written a new book called "Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating."
AMY GOODMAN: You went when you were in your twenties. Talk about the first studies you did, how you spent your time observing the chimpanzees.
JANE GOODALL: The biggest problem when I first got there was that they're very conservative. They'd never seen a white ape before, and as soon as they saw me, they would vanish silently into the forest. And although I was in my dream world and loved being there and waking up every morning with the sounds of the birds and the insects and the calls of the chimpanzees, we only had money for six months, because at that time I had no degree of any sort. It had been extremely difficult for Louis Leakey to get money, you know, this crazy idea of a young untrained girl straight from England going out into the jungle, studying animals known to be stronger than us. But eventually, yes, a wealthy American businessman gave money for six months. But I knew if I didn't see something exciting in those first six months, that would be the end of the study, and I would have let Louis Leakey down.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, what happened?
JANE GOODALL: Fortunately, a breakthrough occurred just before the six-month money ran out, and I will never forget that day going through the wet undergrowth. I was rather cold and miserable.
Read on to discover what she witnessed that's changed our thinking about animals ever since.
