Last week, the Gila River Indian Community celebrated Earth Day a month ahead of the globally recognized date. The day is dedicated to embracing environmental awareness and action.
The Valley-based tribe welcomed a special guest: Jane Goodall.
The 90-year-old world-renowned zoologist and British primatologist, who has dedicated her life to studying chimpanzees, toured the Huhugam Heritage Center in Chandler and met with Indigenous youth at the tribe’s Department of Environmental Quality in the capital of Sacaton.
Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis asked her to share a message with his 20,000-member tribe on social media.
“Many people are losing hope, because things are not going well with [the] environment and politics and things, but we must never give up,” Goodall said. “We must always have hope. I have many reasons to hope, and the most important reason to hope, I have, is in our young people.”
Goodall travels about 300 days annually on behalf of her namesake global nonprofit.
