To reconnect with nature is key if we want to save the planet.

Whales, like elephants, are so social and intelligent. This hurts me to think of them being transported, put in noisy airplanes, and brought to a horrible concrete pen when they're supposed to be out in the sea.

It's not that humans and non-humans are identical... but the lack of understanding that led to the slave trade is the same lack of understanding many people have about animals today. When slaves were brought over from Africa, many people believed they were not humans, that they didn't have feelings. Many people believe that primates and other animals don't have feelings, too, but they do.

I believe that we have more capability than any other creature to control our biological inheritance - and we do so most of the time.

If we do not do something to help these creatures, we make a mockery of the whole concept of justice.

It's the bond between mother and child, which is really for us and for chimps and other primates, the root of all the expressions of social behavior.

From my perspective, I absolutely believe in a greater spiritual power, far greater than I am, from which I have derived strength in moments of sadness or fear. That's what I believe, and it was very, very strong in the forest.