The time to stop the worst effects of the global warming The human-derived product of human action is coming to an end, and the climate change is approaching the point of no return, he warned. Jane Goodall.

The 88-year-old British primatologist, who has been an environmental activist for decades, commented that the planet's climate is changing at such a speed that humanity is running out of possibilities to solve it.

"We are literally approaching the point of no return. Look at what's happening in the world with climate change. It is terrifying. We are part of the natural world and we depend on healthy ecosystems," he said in an interview with AFP published by Semana.

Goodall delivered a message at the ceremony in which she received the Templeton Awardin Los Angeles.

The $1.3 million award is presented annually to individuals who harness scientific knowledge to explore the questions confronting humanity.

The primatologist has spent six decades working in Tanzania, where she studied chimpanzees and found "human-like" behaviors, including a propensity for warfare and the ability to demonstrate emotions.

In her message, the scientist recalled that her environmental awakening occurred in the 1980s, while working in Mongolia, where she noticed that the hillsides had been deforested.

"The reason people are cutting the trees is to create more land, to harvest food as their family grew, and also to make money from products like charcoal and timber," he expounded.

"If we don't help these people find ways to afford to live without destroying their environment, we won't be able to save the chimpanzees, the forests or the rest."

The expert acknowledged that in the last decades some changes have been adopted to improve the planet's conditions, however, actions must be taken faster.

"We know what we should be doing. We have the tools. But we run into this logic of short-term profit versus the long-term logic of protecting the environment for the future," he said.

"I don't pretend to be able to solve the problems this creates because there are big problems. But if we look at the alternative, which is to continue to destroy the environment, we are doomed."

It is worth noting that the award money was given to the Jane Goodall Institute, an organization dedicated to global wildlife and environmental conservation with youth programs in 66 countries, whose main message is that every person makes an impact on the planet every day and has the ability to decide what kind of impact they make.

Source: Week