Hello to everyone in our lovely hive on this beautiful December day. Because it’s the last month of the year, we wanted to end with something especially significant. We felt the final message of the late and very great Jane Goodall was by far the best way to do this. Jazi and MamaQueenzieBee were moved to hear Jane exhorting humanity to realize we are all here for a purpose. She made it clear that all our lives matter and that what we do each day affects our planet, whether positive or negative. She tells us not to lose hope and to remember that we’re part of Mother Nature, upon whom we depend for everything.
“Ok, but still,” you might be thinking, “what does this have to do with Jazianzza and bees? I mean, she was incredible, but this is supposed to be about bees, and kindness, and things like that, right?”
Most of us are aware of Jane’s lifelong work with chimpanzees. She was the first person to study them and thus realize they are very intelligent beings. For many, it wasn’t a popular conclusion she came to, as it meant we humans aren’t the only smart ones on the planet….and the rest is history!
Just for fun, here’s a short video of Jane talking about one of her most cherished memories. The love and wisdom that pour out of her are incredible.
And I guarantee you will smile with this one… Jane saying, “Good morning,” in chimpanzee!
Ok, so that’s the Jane many of us are familiar with. What I wasn’t aware of, however, was her deep love of and commitment to protecting bees and pollinators. From her childhood, she was a student of nature. In 2013, she published a book called From Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants. She highlights the crucial connection between plants and human life. In it, she also described watching bees when she was a child. “I watched them for hours…honeybees flying busily from flower to flower, the ‘breadbaskets’ on their legs gradually filling with bright-yellow pollen…as they performed that all-important task of pollination.” Jane was extremely aware of the interconnectedness of life, something MamaQueenzieBee completely agrees with. She was fascinated by the bees and noted the small behaviors, their personalities, and rhythms.
The Jane Goodall Institute supports beekeeping projects in Tanzania and Uganda, providing a sustainable income for the local people as well as supporting the health of the ecosystem by supporting the pollinators. In 1991, she founded the magnificent Roots & Shoots global youth network, with millions of young people in over 60 countries learning how to make a difference in the world for animals as well as the environment.
In fact, in honor of Jane’s memory, Roots & Shoots created a calendar of hope…365 things you and your young ones can do to help bring hope and change to the world. You can download it here.
In addition, she helped inspire a beautiful bee sanctuary in Dubai, the Jane Goodall Pollinator Garden. Jazi wants to go visit it someday to see firsthand the impact this project is making, which I think would be pretty cool. Here’s the Garden:
We could go on and on about her monumental life’s work, but I think we’ve given you enough to consider in this little newsletter. She urged us to “make ethical choices about what we buy, eat, and wear, and how we interact with people, animals, and nature, and to share stories of all the reasons why we should have hope.” How simple, yet profound.
So finally, here is the magnificent Jane Goodall’s final message for all of us:
Thank you for being here with us today. We wish you a holiday season filled with joy, peace, happiness, and an ever-greater appreciation for and awareness of our interconnectedness with all of life. And please, take the time to sit with nature and just watch it. Try to let go of all the thoughts rushing through your mind and simply be present with the miracle of nature.
Try getting down on your hands and knees with your young ones and see what worms you might be able to find, or what the ants are up to, and of course, what Jazi’s world of pollinators is doing. Life is a miracle. The world is filled with the simplest yet most profound miracles all around us if we only take the time to notice. Humanity is one of those miracles. Let’s all seek to make those ethical choices Jane talked about, so that we can truly be good stewards of this marvelous blue marble we are blessed to live on.
“Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.”
— Jane Goodall
And as always, please feel free to share this newsletter with friends who have children or grandchildren, or are teachers, caregivers, bee lovers, or anyone else you think might benefit/delight from reading this. They can subscribe by simply going to AnandamayiBaker.com and filling out the form.