Jane Goodall’s Undying Optimism

From this:

Happy Birthday to the incomparable Dr. Jane Goodall! Today, we celebrate the 88th birthday of a changemaker who has inspired millions of people around the world to take action on behalf of the planet we share.

Dr. Goodall is indeed an inspiration, if only for her reason-guided and full-throated optimism.  She is absolutely convinced that the commitment of young people, the pace of technology development, and the resilience of nature will team together to reverse the ecological damage we see all around us.

As an example of the last of these three ingredients, she points to the River Thames, which for decades was a toxic waste dump, but now is teeming with fish and other life forms.  What did the British government do to make this happen?  Nothing.  They simply stopped releasing poisons into it.

This reversal really can happen.