What do chimps and the cosmos have in common?

As we finish the year 2025, I have been reflecting on someone we’ve lost. On October 1, 2025, the inspiring Jane Goodall passed away. I never had the chance to meet her, but she had a deep impact on me through her work. Even though our fields of interest are different, we have both spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to be human. For her, it was in comparison to other primates. For me, it’s thinking about how we came to be in this big Universe. What is our place as human beings? How do we fit in the big picture of life on Earth? How do we continue our existence without destroying our planet? Primatology and astronomy might seem like very different perspectives, but they can definitely lead to the same questions and concerns.

Credit: Jane Goodall Institute of Canada

A few years ago, I read The Book of Hope, A Survival Guide for Trying Times, by Goodall in collaboration with Douglas Abrams. For anyone challenged to find hope in this period of environmental crisis, political unrest, and polarization of ideas, this book is a must-read. Through that book, I learned about her program Roots & Shoots and fell in love with the idea. Through four clear and simple steps, kids are inspired to take positive action in their community. It builds their sense of leadership and competency, which they can then use to have even more impact as they grow into adulthood. I was so inspired that I got in touch with the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada and met with a wonderful person (hello Alison!) to discuss their approach to programming for youth. Roots & Shoots seemed to be a solution to a problem which has been haunting me for years: as kids learn about our place in space and the global scale, how can we turn that into a meaningful action locally? Learning about astronomy can be daunting, and sometimes even feel scary and disconnected from us. How can we counter that? I aim to tackle these questions through our Spaceship Earth project, which is in development.

I admire Jane Goodall for her wonderful message of hope. She never gave up trying to make the world a better place. She believed strongly in education and the power of young people to bring about positive change. Despite the odds, she continued spreading her message to millions worldwide. She never gave up.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” - Jane Goodall

Every day, I choose to do my best, to have a positive impact. Through my work, I try to help people realize what it means that we all share our planet and to think about how we need to work together to keep going. In my mind, that’s the best lesson we’ve learned from studying the vast and ancient Universe. When you think of the Universe, “us” becomes something much more broad than just immediate family, our community, our country; “us” becomes all of humanity, our home, our little planet. Working together is the only way we can make it in the long run. While it may not be obvious at first, studying chimps and the cosmos can both lead to important perspectives on what matters most.

Jane Goodall was a scientist and an amazing science communicator. But most of all, she was a wonderful and caring human being who reminded us that a brighter future is possible. To achieve this shared goal, it will require steady effort and the resolve not to lose hope when challenges arise.

Thank you, Jane. Your legacy will live on through millions of us.