When animal advocates face criticism, burnout, and tough ethical choices, how can they stay effective and inspired? In this episode of The Animal Advocate, I pay tribute to the legendary Dr. Jane Goodall by exploring five powerful advocacy lessons we can all apply—no matter where we are in our advocacy journey.
Discover how Jane’s optimism, strategic messaging, belief in youth, holistic worldview, and coalition-building changed the world for animals and people. Whether you’re just starting out or deep in the movement, you’ll find ideas you can apply to carry forward Jane’s legacy.
In this episode, I share five lessons from Jane Goodall’s approach to advocacy:
- Stay positive and hopeful—even while witnessing suffering
- Connect animal issues to human benefits to bring more people to your cause
- Invest in young people as a core strategy for lasting change
- See animal welfare as interconnected with housing, economics, public health, and social justice
- Work with unlikely allies without compromising your principles
We also explore:
- When to draw hard boundaries and decline opportunities that contradict your ethics
- Why you can’t (and shouldn’t try to) do it all—and how to focus your advocacy strategically
- One simple action step you can take this week to apply these lessons
Key Takeaway: Jane Goodall showed us that effective advocacy requires both unwavering compassion for animals and strategic pragmatism about working with people. You don’t have to do everything, but you do have to do something.
Episode Highlights:
00:00 Intro: Remembering Jane Goodall and what set her apart as an animal advocate and scientist
00:58 Combating the “Nut” Stereotype: Jane’s example proves animal advocates can be serious, credible professionals who change public perception
02:02 Lesson 1 – Stay Happy and Positive: How hope, joy, and celebrating small wins drew more people to Jane’s cause—and can do the same for us
05:00 Lesson 2 – People Are Inherently Self-Interested: Jane’s pragmatic approach: connect animal issues to human benefits for greater impact
07:19 Lesson 3 – Work With Young People: The Roots & Shoots program, youth empowerment, and why investing in future generations maximizes change
10:09 Lesson 4 – Everything Is Interconnected: Jane’s holistic approach to advocacy, linking animal, environmental, and human issues for stronger solutions
12:31 Lesson 5 – Tolerance and Collaboration: Collaborating across differences without compromising values—how Jane worked with unlikely allies
14:40 Drawing Boundaries With Integrity: Jane’s refusal to participate in events that violated her principles, and how to choose your own non-negotiables
16:31 You Can’t Do It All: Focusing your advocacy where you can have the biggest impact—Jane’s advice on being strategic, not spread too thin
17:55 Find Your “Something”: Penny challenges listeners to pick just one lesson and apply it to their advocacy
18:26 Recap of the Five Lessons: Quick summary and encouragement to build coalitions and take action with joy and determination
Resources mentioned:
- Jane Goodall’s Youth Program, Roots & Shoots
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Contact us anytime at podcast@animaladvocacyacademy.com
Because compassion is great, but compassionate action is infinitely better.
Transcript:
Penny Ellison:
Welcome back to the Animal Advocate. Thanks for being here. I don’t know about you, but my social media feed has been full of pictures of Jane Goodall since her passing. I had no idea how many of my friends and acquaintances had actually met her. We’ve all been thinking about how we can best carry on her legacy, but I’ve been thinking just as much about what kind of an animal and environmental advocate she was and what we can all learn from that. Especially after our last episode where we discussed the fact that most people who speak out on behalf of animals face criticism and sometimes belittling or even retaliation. So I thought we’d do an episode on five lessons we can draw from one of the greatest animal advocates who has ever lived, Jane Goodall. I always tell my students that as animal advocates, you need to overcome the presumption on the part of a lot of people that you’re a nut.
No one did more to show the world that an animal advocate could be a scientist and emphatically the opposite of a nut than Dr. Jane Goodall. She changed how the world sees animal and environmental advocates, and she did it with grace, determination, and an unwavering commitment to speaking up for those without voices.
Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become effective advocates. I’m your host, Penny Ellison, and I’ve taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006. If you’ve ever thought someone should do something about that, I’m here to guide you on your journey to being that someone. You can find us on the web@animaladvocacyacademy.com and that’s where you’ll find show notes and resources, and you can send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you’d like to hear on future shows. So onto today’s topic.
So here we go with five lessons from Jane.
Lesson number one. Stay happy and positive. Everyone who advocates for animals does it because they witness some level of suffering that they want to stop. Whether it’s wild animals losing habitat or dying at the hands of poachers, sows cramped into spaces only slightly larger than their bodies for their whole lives. Fur farms where animals spend their entire existence in wire cages, or even people forced to give up pets because they can’t find housing or afford vet care, it can wear on the soul to witness that kind of suffering. Animal advocates, including and especially Jane Goodall, don’t keep their heads in the sand. They act as witnesses to so much of the suffering that many people prefer to turn a blind eye to. That’s a lot to deal with.
And the weight of it can pull you down, make you angry, and even make you cynical. And yet, whenever I envision Jane Goodall, I see a smile. This woman spent decades witnessing habitat destruction, poaching, animal cruelty, and environmental devastation. She saw things that would break most people’s hearts, and yet she radiated joy and hope wherever she went.
This wasn’t naive optimism or willful ignorance. Jane understood the problems better than almost anyone. But she also understood something that many advocates forget. People are drawn to hope, not despair. They’re inspired by possibility, not defeated by doom. When you’re advocating for animals, your energy matters. If you come across as angry, bitter, or judgmental, people shut down. They stop listening. But if you can maintain that spark of hope, that genuine belief that change is possible, you invite people into the work rather than pushing them away.
I’m not saying you should fake happiness or pretend everything’s fine. What I’m saying is that even while acknowledging the difficult realities, you can choose to focus on solutions rather than just problems. You can celebrate the wins, however small.And you can recognize progress, even though there’s still a long way to go. Jane Goodall showed us that you can be both realistic about the challenges and optimistic about the future. You can witness suffering without letting it consume you. And you can fight for change without losing your sense of humor in the process.
Lesson number two. People are inherently self-interested. Now, that might sound cynical, but it’s actually one of the most practical pieces of advocacy advice I can give you. And Jane Goodall understood this better than almost anyone.
When Jane talked about things like saving forests, she didn’t just talk about the chimpanzees. She talked about how deforestation affects local communities, how it leads to soil erosion, water contamination, and economic instability. She talked about how protecting wildlife habitats also protects human livelihoods. When she advocated for ending animal testing, she didn’t just focus on the suffering of the animals. She talked about how alternative methods could be more reliable, more cost effective, and produce better scientific results. This wasn’t manipulation. This was strategic communication. Jane understood that most people care primarily about their own lives and maybe, if you’re lucky, their own communities. That’s not a character flaw.
It’s just human nature. So instead of fighting against that reality and begging people to care, she worked with it. When you’re advocating for animals, ask yourself, how does this issue affect people? What are the human benefits of the change you’re proposing? How can you frame your message in a way that resonates with your audience’s values and concerns. Maybe you’re advocating for better animal shelter policies. Don’t just talk about the animals’ suffering. Talk about public health risks, community safety, maybe property values and taxpayer costs, if they’re relevant. Give people multiple reasons to care, not just the moral argument.
Maybe you’re trying to get someone to adopt a dog instead of buying from a breeder.Yes, talk about the animals who need homes, how long they’ve been waiting in the shelters. But also talk about the money they’ll save, the knowledge they can get about this particular dog, especially if they’ve been living in a foster home, and the joy of giving a second chance. That doesn’t mean abandoning your ethical arguments. It means supplementing them with practical ones. Because at the end of the day, if you want to create change, you need people on your side. And people are more likely to join your side when they see how it benefits them.
Lesson number three: Work with young people.
If you ask Jane Goodall what gave her the most hope for the future, she would tell you about Roots & Shoots, the youth program she founded. Roots & Shoots engages young people around the world in environmental and humanitarian action. The program is built on the idea that every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play, and every individual, even kids, can make a difference. And Jane totally believed this with every fiber of her being. She spent enormous amounts of time working with children and young adults. She visited schools, spoke at universities, and mentored young activists. And she did this not as a sideline to her real work, but as one of her core priorities, because Jane understood something that many advocates overlook. If you want lasting change, you need to invest in the next generation.
Adults can be set in their ways. I’m sure you know. They’ve developed habits, beliefs, and behaviors that can be hard to change. But young people are still forming their worldview. They’re asking questions, challenging assumptions, and imagining different possibilities they haven’t yet settled on “Well, this is just the way things are.” When you teach a child compassion for animals, you’re not just affecting one person. You’re potentially affecting everyone that child will influence throughout their lifetime. Every pet they’ll own, every vote they’ll cast, every conversation they’ll have, and every child they’ll raise.
Jane also recognized that young people bring energy, creativity, and fresh perspectives to advocacy work. They’re not constrained by the way things have always been done. They’re willing to try new approaches, use new technologies, and push boundaries in ways that older generations might not.
So what does this mean for you as an advocate? Get involved with youth programs, volunteer at schools, mentor young activists, create educational materials designed for them. And when you work with young people, treat them as genuine partners in the work, not just passive recipients of your wisdom. Listen to their ideas, respect their perspectives, and give them opportunities to lead. Jane Goodall showed us that investing in young people isn’t just about the future, it’s about the present.Because young people are creating change right now, and they’ll continue creating change long after we’re gone.
Lesson number four. Everything and everyone is interconnected.
One of Jane’s most profound insights was understanding the interconnectedness of all life. She didn’t just study chimpanzees in isolation. She understood them as part of an ecosystem. And she didn’t just advocate for wildlife. She recognized how environmental issues connect to poverty, education, health, and human rights.
This holistic view shaped everything about her advocacy. She understood that you can’t protect chimpanzees without protecting their habitat. You can’t protect habitat without addressing the needs of local communities. You can’t address poverty without considering education. You can’t address any of these issues without considering the others.
This lesson is an important one for animal advocates because I think too often we silo our work and we talk just about the animals. We focus narrowly on one issue without seeing how it connects to everything else. But when you start to see the connections, your advocacy becomes more effective, and that’s what it’s all about. You understand that animal welfare issues are also housing issues, economic issues, public health issues, and social justice issues. Take pet surrenders at shelters. On the surface, that seems like a simple animal welfare problem. But when you look closer, you see connections to housing, discrimination against pet owners, lack of access to affordable veterinary care, economic inequality, domestic violence, mental health crises, and more. Understanding all these connections doesn’t just make you a better advocate. It opens up new strategies for change. Instead of just trying to get people to adopt more animals, we can work on affordable housing policies, veterinary care access, and domestic violence services that allow pets to come along. Jane also understood the connection between how we treat animals and how we treat each other.
She saw animal welfare not as separate from human welfare, but as fundamentally linked to it. Societies that show compassion for animals tend to show more compassion for vulnerable humans. And violence toward animals often accompanies violence toward people. This interconnected view also helps with coalition building. When you understand how your issue connects to others, you can find natural allies in unexpected places. Environmental groups, public health organizations, social justice movements, they’re all potential partners because our issues overlap.
Lesson number five. Practice Tolerance and collaboration.
Jane worked with people who didn’t share all her values. And she did it without compromising her own principles. Jane felt about animals in a way that made it impossible for her to reconcile killing and eating them. She was a vegetarian and later a vegan, but that didn’t mean she refused to collaborate with people who made different choices. She worked with Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia, not exactly someone you’d expect to see partnering with an animal rights advocate. But she wanted to try to bring oversight and humanity to the slaughter process. And so did he. She didn’t say, I won’t work with you unless you stop eating meat. She said, let’s work together on the changes we can agree on.
She also spoke at corporate forums and praised companies that took even small steps toward reducing plastic or investing in habitat restoration. Critics accused her of being co opted of giving these corporations cover to continue their harmful practices. And I concede that argument because I’ve made it about some compromises. But she countered that engagement was more useful than denunciation. She believed that if you don’t talk to people you disagree with, how can you expect them to change? I think that thought is more true today than maybe ever in human history.
This is a lesson that the animal advocacy movement desperately needs to hear. Too often we engage in what some people call purity politics. We refuse to work with anyone who doesn’t share our exact beliefs. We criticize fellow advocates for not being radical enough or for being too radical. We create litmus tests that exclude potential allies. But Jane understood that meaningful change requires building coalitions, even with people you disagree with. She understood that you can work with someone on one issue and disagree with them on others.
This doesn’t mean compromising your values or staying silent about things that matter to you. Jane certainly didn’t do that. When she was invited to represent the environment at the Salt Lake City Olympics but learned that a rodeo would be held there, she declined. The Olympic Committee organizers argued having American and Canadian cowboys compete in rodeo events would demonstrate mutual understanding, tolerance and brotherhood. But she knew that it would stress the animals and potentially harm them just for entertainment. Jane wouldn’t lend her name and presence to something that contradicted her values. But declining to participate in something is different from refusing to work with anyone who disagrees with you. Jane drew boundaries around her own actions while remaining open to working with a broad range of partners on shared goals.
One of my favorite quotes that I use every year in class is from Desmond Tutu. It goes like this. “If you’re neutral in situations of injustice, you’ve chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say you’re neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” Jane Goodall was never neutral when animals were suffering, but she was strategic about when to draw hard lines and when to find common ground. She understood that sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good, that holding out for ideal solutions can mean animals continue to suffer while we wait.
This is a balancing act that every advocate needs to figure out for themselves. Where are your non negotiables? Where can you be flexible? And who can you work with despite disagreements? And when do you need to say no? There is no universal answer to these questions. But Jane’s example shows us that you can maintain your integrity while being pragmatic. You can refuse to participate in things that violate your values while still working alongside people who make different choices.
Let me leave you with an important lesson from Jane, something she repeatedly said throughout her life. Everyone can do something, and just as important, you can’t do it all. Jane Goodall couldn’t save every chimpanzee, protect every forest, or solve every environmental problem. She focused her energy where she could make the most difference, and she inspired others to focus their energy where they could make a difference. She said, and I love this. “I’m just trying to change attitudes about animals, and it’s very simple, really. I just want to change the world a little.”
I think this gives us permission to be strategic with our advocacy. You don’t have to work on every issue or fight every battle. Pick the areas where your skills, resources, and passions align and do that work really well and trust that others are working on the issues that you care about but you can’t address right now. You don’t have to do everything, but you do have to do something.
Jane spent decades bearing witness to animal suffering and refusing to be silent about it. She spoke up even when it was uncomfortable, even when it cost her something, and even when people disagreed. So find your something.
Maybe it’s volunteering at your local shelter. Maybe it’s advocating to change laws. I’m here to help you with that. Maybe it’s educating others. We can work on that together, too. Whatever it is, do it with joy, hope, and determination like Jane Goodall modeled for all of us. Stay positive even when the work is hard. Connect your message to what matters to your audience. Invest in young people. Understand how your issue connects to everything else, and build coalitions even with people who don’t share your values.
Jane Goodall showed us that one person really can make a difference, but she also showed us that we didn’t have to do it alone, and we don’t have to do absolutely everything.
For today’s Be the Change action, I want you to pick just one of these five lessons and think about how you can apply it in your advocacy work. Maybe you’ll reach out to a youth organization to offer your time or expertise. Maybe you’ll think about how to reframe one of your advocacy messages to connect with people’s natural self-interest. Maybe you’ll reach out to someone you’ve disagreed with and explore whether there’s common ground for collaboration. Whatever you choose, make it specific and doable. Jane didn’t change the world in a day, and neither will you. But she did change it just a little, and so can you.
That’s it for today. The Animal Advocate Podcast is brought to you by the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find episodes and show notes@animaladvocacyacademy.com along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages where we discuss our podcasts, and we’d love to discuss your thoughts and experiences there. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting animals, support subscribe to the show so you get every episode when it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any other topic related to animal law, email them to podcastnimaladvocacyacademy.com and we’ll make sure to get them answered. We’ll either email you back or feature them in a future episode, or both. And remember, compassion is great. That compassionate action Compassion is infinitely better.
Until next week, Live with Compassion.
