1. The Countdown to Peace Day has Started!
Our Peace Day image is courtesy of Fernando Turmo
As a long standing UN Messenger of Peace, it’s no secret that Dr Jane Goodall’s favourite day of the year is the International Day of Peace and, much to Dr Jane’s delight, each year our celebrations in Australia get bigger and better! Officially taking place on September 21, each International Day of Peace has a theme and this year’s theme is “The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace”.
“The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are our shared vision of humanity and a social contract between the world’s leaders and the people,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “They are a to-do list for people and planet, and a blueprint for success.”
Join us, via our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages, as we count down to the International Day of Peace Day, highlighting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Every single one is a building block in the global architecture of peace and we hope that you will help us work towards these goals by visiting our Global R&S website and participating in an activity. Don’t forget to let us know by emailing rootsandshoots@janegoodall.org.au or using the #RootsandShoots and #PeaceDay.
2. More Researchers in the JGIA Family
As great apes’ populations decline, captive and sanctuary individuals play an increasingly important role in species’ conservation. Two of our valued JGIA family members, Administrator and Chimp Guardian Campaign Coordinator Nicky Kim-McCormack and Mobile Phone Recycling and Palm Oil Campaign Coordinator Natasha Coutts are both following in Dr Jane’s footsteps and studying great apes!
Growing research supports improved captive animal welfare when an animal can have more control over their environment, so Nicky is currently at Seoul Zoo examining the effects of digital enrichment and the provision of free choice on chimpanzees and orangutans. Nicky is using technology that allows primates to freely engage with numerous digital activities. It also allows Human-Animal interactions to study the effect on both animal welfare and visitor response, and whether the direct interactivity can lead to greater conservation awareness and changes in attitudes. She is particularly proud of being able to raise awareness in visitors about the devastating effects of palm oil.
Natasha’s research involves a variety of themes, including great ape social behaviour, ecology, conservation, and captive welfare. At the moment she is working on a project looking at how different habitats affect the vocalisations of chimpanzees in Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire, the results of which she will be presenting at the International Primatological Society (IPS) conference in August in Chicago.
In fact if you happen to be in Chicago in August, you can catch both of our amazing researchers as well as Dr Jane herself. Well done all of you inspirational women!
3. Junior Climb for Chimps
Are you looking for a way to meaningfully connect with nature? Or maybe a chance for your young ones to explore our beautiful environment and learn about the other amazing animals sharing our earth?
On July 17th JGIA’s Roots & Shoots will be doing a mini Climb for Chimps for young people across Australia! Come join your fellow Roots & Shoots members on a walk through the bush and have a chat with young scientists studying everything A.P.E! We will provide a FREE vegetarian BBQ and A.P.E activities such as a scavenger hunt.
This is a youth based event – but parents and guardians are welcome to join! Check out our Facebook page for a location near you or visit our website for more information on R&S. Or simply email rootsandshoots@janegoodall.org.au and we will connect you with your R&S State Coordinator.
Looking for more of a challenge? Enquire about our Kilimanjaro Climb for Chimps in February 2017!
4. Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign a Success!
JGIA’s Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign has officially wrapped up and as well as raising awareness and educating the next generation about sustainability, we are very pleased to announce that the participating schools collected more than 100 kilograms of mobile phones for recycling!
From these mobile phones we can recover and reuse 54 kilograms of plastic and 11 kilograms of copper and make 172 aluminum cans and 18 plastic fence posts. And we have reduced our environmental impact by the equivalent of 6 new trees planted, a tonne less of CO2 emissions in the air and 3 less tonnes of ore mined!
Thanks to our recycling partner MobileMuster, and reuse partner Bounce Mobile, but most of all a huge thank you and congratulations to all the schools that participated and we can’t wait to do it again next year! If you want to get involved, please reach out to us on recycle@janegoodall.org.au or via our website.
5. Vegemite Chimps
Are you a Vegemite lover? How would you feel if instead of on your toast, it was on your walls?
Chimpanzee Kamili at Taronga Zoo certainly seems to like it! The amazing Senior Primate Keeper Geoff Kidd used his fingers to paint this delicious and original Vegemite artwork on the walls in the night-time chimp enclosure. We love it and so does 11-year old Kamili! She is known by the keepers as clever, ambitious and a bit of a trouble maker but it seems that Geoff has figured out a way to keep her out of trouble, at least for a while. Fantastic work Geoff!
And finally, a very heartfelt thank you to our generous donors during the end of financial year. We simply could not do our work without your kind support and we are so very honoured and grateful that you chose to donate.
