Flying to Seattle from Oakland in the late 90's, I noticed a woman who looked like Jane Goodall waiting in the lineup for the cut-rate, no frills, cramped Southwest flight. I thought, "gosh, she looks like Jane Goodall, but Jane Goodall, one of the most famous and recognized scientists in the world heads a multi-million dollar foundation and mixes with the rich and famous around the world. No way flying on Southwest, where you have to scramble for a cramped seat because no reserved seating."
After the woman bought her ticket, she took a large stuffed animal from under her arm and stood by the front of the line, talking to each passenger, particularly the children. It was a hand made gorilla.
I congratulated her on speaking out on the treatment of research primates some years earlier, saying it took courage in the face of many Canadian and American academics' opposition to any mandatory guidelines such as Britain's. I had been surprised at her stance, but it turns out I was ignorant of her personal history.
In a nice interview played today promoting her new book Harvest for Hope, Thanksgiving, on Democracy Now, it turns out she has been a vegetarian, or at least avoided factory farmed meat, since the 70s, having spent time on a traditional free range farm as a child and loving the animals.
She was knowlegeable about animal liberation and food issues and talked about speaking to Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian anti-GMO farmer who crossed swords with Monsanto over the last decade. More name dropping, Percy Schmeiser's family owned a house I rented for 4 months in Saskatoon in 1979. I discovered he was an incredibly hard-working tractor dealer/prairie farmer, who personally deliverd 17 tractors that summer.
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