A tireless advocate for conservation and one of the world’s most prominent primatologists, Jane Goodall travels 300 days a year, explaining why it’s important to protect our environment and wildlife.

In 1960, at the age of 26, Jane Goodall ventured to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to study chimpanzees. Her discoveries were groundbreaking and her approach to fieldwork was revolutionary. She immersed herself in the chimps’ daily lives and gave them names.

Since then, Goodall has become a tireless advocate for conservation, in addition to being one of the world’s best-known primatologists. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which works around the world to protect wildlife and the environment, but also improves the lives of people in order to further conservation efforts.

DW: Why do you think it is that some people lack hope or aren’t moved to take action to protect the environment?

Jane Goodall: The biggest problem is greed. People want more and more and more — more than they need. Companies want to grow bigger and bigger and bigger and gobble up the competition. And the gap between the haves and the have-nots is getting bigger all the time, causing resentment and anger, rightly so.