April 2003

From Harvard Medical School

Jane Goodall to receive 2003 Environmental Citizen Award

"Jane Goodall's groundbreaking and captivating research with chimpanzees continues to change the way we perceive our animal cousins and ourselves," says Eric Chivian, MD, HMS assistant professor, Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, and a former co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. "Through the Jane Goodall Institute, Dr. Goodall continues her research, and also pursues several profoundly important environmental initiatives, including the Congo Basin Project, which works to end the bushmeat trade that threatens to annihilate chimpanzees; Roots & Shoots, which encourages and supports students from preschool through university in projects that benefit people, animals, and the environment; and TACARE, a sustainable development and conservation program that involves 33 villages around Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania.

"The recent outbreak of Ebola in the Congo that has killed hundreds of primates and has caused over 100 human deaths demonstrates the important connection between the health of the environment and our own health," says Chivian. "We are not only endangering the lives of our closest animal relatives through practices of hunting and deforestation, we are threatening human life as well. "The handling of bushmeat is thought to have been responsible for the original spread of HIV from chimpanzees to humans and was the subject of a congressional briefing hosted by the Center and featuring Jane Goodall, held last February.

"Jane Goodall first brought the wonderful and fascinating world of wild primates to us in her early career, and now she brings us the urgent and desperate conservation needs of these threatened animals," Gregory Stone, PhD, Vice President , Global Marine Programs, New England Aquarium. "She has a caring stewardship voice that speaks to everyone, and it must be listened to now more than ever."

Jane Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzees in Tanzania in June 1960. One of Dr. Goodall's most significant discoveries came in her first year in Gombe National Park, when she saw chimps stripping leaves from stems, which they then used to fish for termites from mounds. This and subsequent observations of Gombe chimps making and using tools would force scientists to rethink their belief that man was the only animal that made tools.

Dr. Goodall established the Gombe Stream Research Center in 1964, which continues Dr. Goodall's work today, making it one of the longest uninterrupted wildlife studies in existence. In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) (http://www.janegoodall.org/), which supports the Gombe work and other research, education and conservation programs. In 1986, with news about the rapid decrease of chimpanzee populations across Africa, Dr. Goodall began working to save chimpanzees. She continues this work today, traveling an average 300 days per year to speak about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will ultimately solve the problems it has imposed on the earth. Since September 11, Dr. Goodall has emphasized the need for people to show compassion and tolerance.

"Every individual has a role to play in protecting our environment," says Dr. Goodall. "It is an honor to receive this award from the Center for Health and the Global Environment, and on behalf of the many individuals who work with me, I want to thank the Center for its vitally important work."

Her list of publications is extensive, including two overviews of her work at Gombe -- In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window -- as well as two autobiographies in letters, the spiritual autobiography Reason for Hope and many children's books. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior, is recognized as the definitive work on chimpanzee behaviors and is the culmination of Jane Goodall's scientific career. Dr. Goodall has been the subject of numerous television documentaries and is featured in the large-screen format film, Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (2002), which will be shown prior to the award ceremony.

In April 2002 Secretary-General Annan named Dr. Goodall a United Nations "Messenger of Peace." Messengers help mobilize the public to get involved in work that makes the world a better place, serving as advocates in a variety of areas: poverty eradication, human rights, peace and conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS, disarmament, community development and environmentalism.

The HMS Center for Health and the Global Environment and the New England Aquarium, where the award is to be presented, have joined in a number of programs to educate the public about the human health dimension of environmental change, including developing an exhibit on the human health importance of marine ecosystems.

EVENT DETAILS

WHAT:

The Center for Health and the Global Environment (http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge/) at Harvard Medical School will present Dr. Jane Goodall the 2003 Global Environmental Citizen Award today, Monday, April 28. This event will conclude Dr. Goodall's tour of North America.

High-resolution award ceremony photos will be posted during the presentation at: http://134.174.17.106/news/enviro_award/. B-roll of Dr. Goodall's work is also available for all television news programming.

The award ceremony will be held in the New England Aquarium's Matthew and Marcia Simons IMAX� Theater. Prior to the award ceremony and reception, reporters are invited to attend a screening of the IMAX film Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees courtesy of the Museum of Science.

Following the presentation, an award dinner will be held at Hamersley's bistro featuring a gourmet menu made from sustainable agriculture, seafood and livestock by Boston top chefs.

WHO:

Jane Goodall, PhD, CBE, primatologist, environmentalist
Edward O. Wilson, PhD, Harvard University emeritus professor of biology, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Eric Chivian, MD, HMS assistant professor, Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, and a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Edmund Toomey, President and C.E.O. of the New England Aquarium
Greg Stone, PhD, Vice President of Global Marine Programs, New England Aquarium

WHEN:

TODAY, MONDAY, April 28, 2003
Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees IMAX Viewing: 3:30-4:30 pm
Award Ceremony and Press Conference: 4:30-5:30 pm
Aquarium reception: 5:30 pm
Award Dinner, Hamersley's Bistro: 7:00 pm

WHERE:

New England Aquarium
Matthew and Marcia Simons IMAX� Theater
Central Wharf
Boston, MA 02110
For directions and parking call 617-973-5213

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZEN AWARD RECIPIENTS

2003: Jane Goodall, PhD, CBE, head, Jane Goodall Institute, groundbreaking anthropologist and environmentalist. Honors include the Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, and Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize. In 2001 she received the third Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence, presented at the United Nations by the World Movement for Nonviolence.

2002: Harrison Ford, actor and vice chair of the Board of Conservation International (CI), on which he has served for more than ten years. A field-based organization with over 1,000 professionals in 30 countries, CI concentrates on protecting biodiversity hotspots: 25 places that comprise only 1.4 percent of the Earth's surface, but contain a large proportion of its species. Ford narrated the IMAX film Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance to bring awareness to biodiversity conservation efforts. The film examines the planet's biological diversity from the polar regions to the tropics.

2001: Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University emeritus professor of biology. Wilson is one of the world's most distinguished and respected scientists. Through his books and lectures, Wilson has changed the way scientists and nonscientists alike view the natural world by helping them recognize its enormous complexity and diversity and by demonstrating its importance for their everyday lives. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and a recipient of the National Medal of Science and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School
The Mission of the Center for Health and the Global Environment is to study and to promote a wider understanding of the human health consequences of global environmental change. The Center believes that people will protect the natural environment when they realize its importance to their health, and to the health and lives of their children. (http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge/)

New England Aquarium
The New England Aquarium is dedicated to presenting, promoting and protecting the world of water. Located on Boston's waterfront, the aquarium is among the most popular cultural attractions in the region drawing nearly 1.6 million visitors in 2002. The New England Aquarium is also a recognized leader in marine conservation and research efforts throughout the globe. (http://www.neaq.org/)

Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School has more than 5,000 full-time faculty working in eight academic departments based at the School's Boston quadrangle or in one of 47 academic departments at 17 affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those HMS affiliated institutions include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Hospital, Center for Blood Research, Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, VA Boston Healthcare System. (http://www.hms.harvard.edu)



This article comes from Science Blog. Copyright � 2004
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