Fusion’s environmental correspondent Nicolas Ibarguen recently sat down with Sylvia Earle, an American marine biologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence, and Jane Goodall, the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees and an devout conservationist, to discuss how they developed their passions for the environment.

Earle and Goodall, both fascinated with nature since they were children, see the world’s wildlife as having suffered greatly over the course of their lives, and they remain as devoted as ever to raising awareness for the cause of preserving nature.