Jane Goodall is 87 years old and she was born on the 3^rd April 1934 in London.

She is an English primatologist and anthropologist and she is best known for her 60-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees. She is the world`s best-known living naturalist and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute.

In April 2002 she was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace and she is also an honorary member of the World Future Council.

Jane was fascinated with animal behaviour in her early childhood and she dreamed of travelling to Africa to observe exotic animals in their natural habitats.

Through Jane`s research, it is believed that she has developed a breakthrough approach to species conversation that improves the lives of people, animals and the environment by highlighting how they are all connected to each other.

One important aspect of Jane`s career is to show others why protecting the natural environment and species matter to people and the planet.

During the COP26 Jane was announced to be the COP26 Advocate, and during this time she drew the world`s attention to the importance of tackling climate change and she also raised awareness about the importance of climate action globally.

Before COP26 started Jane appeared on a Twitter video in which she said:

“We have come to a turning point in our relationship with the natural world. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that we must change our ways. In my 87 years, I have seen the ice melting in Greenland and the glaciers vanishing on Mount Kilimanjaro and around the world. Forests are disappearing – deforestation means we are losing one of the lungs of the world. In 100 days, it is crucial that world leaders come together at COP26 to take urgent action to protect our planet.”

A global study from the World Economic Forum was conducted before COP26 started and it found that most people do not feel their countries are prepared to tackle climate change. However, in response to this study Jane reminded us all that hope can be a way out of our darkest times she said:

 “Hope is rather like being in a very dark tunnel with many obstacles that have to be climbed on, and it seems impossible to get to the other end, where there’s a speck of light, that hope. Hope can’t happen unless we take action and fight to get there. Once in place, hope can propel us to do more and even inspire others to join in. It’s an upward spiral.”

Jane pushes for progress against the climate emergency in 4 different ways. Firstly, she talks with people and not at them as discussing problems by arguing at people makes it harder for the other person to understand your point of view and therefore it becomes harder for them to take your side. Secondly, she connects with compassion, Jane does not point fingers at people instead she finds a connection point between herself and the other person, such as an animal or a hobby, and she takes a few minutes talking about these topics to build a bridge between herself and the other person`s different ideas.

Thirdly, she employs stories which means that through a story she begins to connect with other people and these stories often reach people`s hearts. This is good because it is often harder to bind with someone over statistics as change must come from within. Last but not least she acts locally, rather than jumping straight for world change she finds issues within a community and seeks to change them first. Then slowly these little differences start to show great impacts on the wider community and the world as a whole.

Greta Thunberg is an 18-year-old environmental activist from Sweden. She is one of the youngest activists in the world, being only 16 when she received the Times’s Person of the Year award. Thunberg’s school strikes for climate change became well-known around the world, with many pupils from across the globe taking part in these to stand with her in her campaign. By December 2018, over 20,000 students in countries such as the UK and Japan joined her in skipping school to protest. She missed around 3 weeks of school at the start of her striking until she got the attention of the Swedish Parliament. This helped her in the start of the global movement which she has now created, called Fridays For Future (FFF). This involved encouraging school pupils to skip school on a Friday and protest for climate change. The movement became well-known and was given a lot of publicity which brought it to the attention of world leaders.

In one of her most famous speeches at a UN climate conference in New York Thunberg told world leaders “You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,”. This was only the beginning of speeches Thunberg would go on to make. Greta does not fly due to how much this can affect the climate, and instead she often takes very long journeys by train or boat. For the climate conference in New York, Greta took a two-week long zero-emission yacht across the Atlantic Ocean. This is an example of her incredible commitment to making a change to the climate problem currently faced around the world.

The book ‘No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference’ contains all of Greta’s speeches, with proceeds being donated to charity. As well as this, a documentary about her was released in 2020. Recently, Thunberg visited Glasgow during the Cop26 climate change conference which took place over a 2-week period. She took part in protests across Glasgow and encouraged so many people of all ages to get involved in the protests to campaign for changes to be made. After Cop26 Greta criticised the agreement which had been struck, stating it was very vague and contained too many loopholes. She emphasised that the climate crisis is about the time limit faced where changes need to be made before it is too late.

Thunberg continues to influence people, particularly the younger generations, around the world to get involved in climate change campaigning and protesting in order to try and help for changes to be made.

On Monday 10^th October, a group of our volunteers took part in the Glasgow Legal Walk to help raise funds and awareness of Access to Justice.

Being an organisation which provides free legal advice; we completely understood the importance and need to help raise money to further develop this area. Over the past few years there has been a reduction in local authority and government funding being distributed to aid legal organisations, such as our own, which help those struggling within our communities. The contributions raised from everyone taking part are going to help fund this gap.

The walk was 10K in length and had a fun photo challenge to get the creativity flowing, where you had to find locations throughout the walk which fit the caption. We met with Sheriff Turnbull, as well as other law firms and academics who were participating. The walk began at the Glasgow High Court at 5:30pm and followed on through Glasgow Green, around the South Side and finishing off at Bar Home, where all participants were welcomed in for a much needed drink at the end.

Overall, the night was a fabulous opportunity to raise money for a good cause, interact with similar people in the field and have a nice walk in the fresh autumnal air!

The total raised by all participating was £1,163.49.