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In the 60s, she revolutionized our knowledge of chimpanzees by revealing that they use tools. She was criticized for her anthropomorphic approach, naming the apes and attributing emotions to them.
In 1964, her book sparked off the ecology movement in the United States. In it, she denounced the disasters caused by pesticides. She was accused of hysteria.
In 1966, in a paper that revolutionized biology, she demonstrated that competition was not the only basis for evolution. Her article was rejected by some fifty scientific journals.
In the 1970s, she planted 7 trees on Earth Day. The movement she created was later responsible for the planting of over fifty million trees in Africa. When her husband filed for divorce, he told the judge that she had "too strong a character for a woman" and that he was "incapable of controlling her". She went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the late 90s, she discovered the cooperative relationships of trees through the underground network. "A few well-established researchers did everything in their power to destroy my work", she would later say. Some did not hesitate to describe her article as "breakfast for a dog."
In 2019, she calls a "global climate strike." The demonstration brings together half a million people in Montreal. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin call her a "misinformed good girl."
Jane Goodall, Rachel Carson, Lynn Margulis, Wangari Maathai, Suzanne Simard, Greta Thunberg and so many others have, through their courage in a misogynistic society, their thirst for truth in establishments of arrogance, and their perseverance that cost them so much, profoundly changed our relationship with living things.
On this International Women’s Day, let one man ask your forgiveness. In the name of all the others.
Hubert Mansion is the cofounder of l’Université dans la Nature.
Philosopher and writer, he is notably the author of Réconcilier, vers une identité environnementale (Nullius in Verba, 2023) and presents the series La nature et les mots (Youtube).
