Author: Adrienne Bermingham

Imagine a world without climate change…without wildlife trafficking, biodiversity loss, poverty, and violence. Though such a place can be difficult to imagine, Roots & Shoots members are working towards making this happen every single day! Through local community service campaigns, more than 600,000 Roots & Shoots youth around the globe take on some of our world’s greatest challenges all while developing their compassionate leadership skills. It is these young people that will inherit the Earth and when they take on leadership positions in education, business, and government, their compassion-driven decision making will lead us to a better world. Here’s how we’re “cooking up” a better…

Last week marked the end of what seemed like an election that might go on forever. With news of our new President-Elect, each of us is managing strong emotions and likely some uncertainty about what comes next for us as individuals and for our country. We caught up with a few members of the Roots & Shoots U.S. Roots & Shoots Youth Council USA (RSYC)…some of the highest caliber Roots & Shoots youth leaders. Together, they make up the youth voice of the Jane Goodall Institute and they represent one of Dr. Jane’s reasons for hope: “the tremendous energy, enthusiasm and commitment of young…

25 schools. 750 students. 5 trained youth leaders… …countless hours of service toward improving the Los Angeles area for people, animals, and the environment. With your help, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots could win $50,000 to support and expand their programs in the Los Angeles area. Receiving this grant from LA2050 would allow Roots & Shoots to Connect with more youth, mentor more educators, and inspire a generation to take action for the Earth. All YOU have to do is cast a vote for Roots & Shoots! Why Roots & Shoots? Why Los Angeles? “Through community anything is possible. Roots…

“Miss Monica” Hamilton’s Roots & Shoots group at Summit Schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is made up of 14 3rd graders each equipped with an iPad and an eagerness to make good things happen in the community. After participating in the 2015 Roots & Shoots free online course, Monica, who has been teaching for more than 8 years, guided her 8, 9, and 10 year olds through the Roots & Shoots Formula to identify a service campaign. Their community map revealed just how close their school is to a nuclear power plant. So, the campaign they chose, “Evacuation Education,” has…

To celebrate 25 years since Dr. Jane Goodall founded the program, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots has launched a U.S. national campaign, “Growing Together.” The Growing Together Campaign will serve as a celebration of the achievements of Roots & Shoots groups in the United States and it will represent a collective first step toward the next 25 years. Roots & Shoots groups in the United States are invited to participate in the Growing Together Campaign: Take Action: Grow something! For 25 years, Roots & Shoots projects and service campaigns have benefitted people, animals, and/or the environment. Participate in the campaign…

In 1991, Dr. Jane and a group of 12 high school students met on her back porch in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They discussed issues facing their community and began to imagine the actions they could take to address them. These students would become members of the first ever Roots & Shoots group as it was there, on February 19, 1991, that Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots was born. Roots & Shoots calls upon young people to be leaders in their communities today (instead of waiting to be “the leaders of tomorrow.”) Inspired by Dr. Jane’s story and by following…

Make it a day on, not a day off.  Since 1994, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday has been celebrated as a national day of service — a “day on” instead of a day off. Dr. King, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement, is someone who Dr. Goodall often discusses as one of her reasons for hope. His indomitable human spirit, compassion and persistence helped him achieve many goals, against many odds, and blaze trails for so many other civil rights leaders who have followed in his footsteps.  On Monday, January 18, spend the day bettering your community, your…