RLDS Church gives award to Jane Goodall (Primatologist Jane Goodall receives award for environmental efforts)
Kansas City KS Star 24Oct99 N5
By Jeffrey Spivak: Kansas City Star

Primatologist Jane Goodall was awarded the 1999 International Peace Award by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Sunday at the Church's world headquarters in Independence, Missouri. Goodall, who is best known for her studies of chimpanzees, told the audience that studying chimpanzees has helped connect humans with the animal world, "What I learned the most is that the chimpanzee serves as the blood line between the humans on the one hand and the animal kingdom on the other.... I almost see the chimpanzee reaching out to us and saying, `You are part of the animal world.' "

The award was given to Goodall for her most recent crusade, which seeks to educate young people about the environment while saving the chimpanzee's habitat. Founded on Earth Day 1991, Roots &Shoots has grown to include more than 1,000 registered groups, ranging in age from preschool to college age, in 50 countries. "It's a program that is my commitment to young people. When I think of the world I grew up in 65 years ago, and the destruction and the persecution that has gone on, (we were) bad stewards. Let's get together and try to do things right."