Jane Fonda began by reminiscing about growing up in LA many years ago before freeways when nature was everywhere - easy to get lost in. She reveled in the birdsong, but then, after going away for many years, she came back to freeways, smog, way more people and way more buildings. But what really pushed her over the edge wasn’t until the 2019 climate catastrophe in L.A. where there were raging wildfires.
Fonda: Five years ago I went outside and the sky was orange brown. Remember how it was when all these wildfires? It was 112 degrees and I read that birds were falling dead out of the sky over Texas and Arizona because they were forced to fly inland when they migrated because of the fires, and they were dying of dehydration and lack of nourishment. And I got - I was so depressed, that I couldn’t get out of bed.
What pulled Jane Fonda out of her climate despair was a manuscript that arrived at just the right time for her of Naomi Klein’s book “On Fire.” In that book Klein outlines urgent actions she says must be taken to save the planet. So Fonda picked up her phone and called the director of Greenpeace: Annie Leonard. Together, the two launched Fire Drill Fridays. They rally as many people for non-violent action, hoping to effect change from the bottom up.
Fonda: Our goal was not to influence government, particularly. We knew because of research that was done that almost 70% of Americans are concerned about the climate. Thirty percent of them are willing to engage in in civil disobedience and risk getting arrested. When asked why they don’t, they said well, nobody asked me.
So Fonda asked them.
Fonda: And it started small, 50 people, it ended up with thousands and the unasked. And they were mostly women and as I look here, and I said to Willow-
Willow Bay: You pulled me aside and said ‘look at this room. It’s filled with women’ and I said that’s how we roll.
Fonda’s community-based activism has been guided by something Greenpeace Director Annie Leonard told her.” If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” And Fonda believes that if enough people join in then maybe government officials will realize how people really do care about climate policy, and then politicians will be forced to act.
Fonda: We’re vulnerable when we’re individuals. That’s why the powers that be hate the word collective. Hate the notion of public sphere, public good. They want to keep us working as individuals because we don’t have as much power as we do when we joined together.
For USC students Fonda had these messages: practice sustainable fashion, don’t sleep with anyone involved in oil companies, and then one of her strongest pieces of advice to students was to vote in this years election. And Fonda said, vote for Biden.
Fonda: who we elect as president, this year in this country, is going to do a lot in determining what kind of future you all are gonna grow up in. I mean, I am furious with Joe Biden, okay? He made so many promises before he was elected that he hasn’t lived up to. But I also know what he has done. And it is profound. It’s not sexy, it’s not always front page news. But he’s making possible the transition to the alternative green future. What electing Biden does is it provides us a playing field, a context in which we can fight.
Fixing climate change is a fight and will be for years to come. Best done in large groups, Fonda says. But she also says it’s not just a grind. For someone who has won Oscars, is a beloved fitness guru and has the longest running show on Netflix, she’s still committed. And now she’s enjoying the good fight to save the planet.
Fonda: It’s fun. You know, this is not eating your broccoli. This is fun. It’s fun to be an activist in a movement and meet people who are like you and have the same values.
Fun, but serious. Necessary, and has to happen now. Jane Fonda told us today at Annenberg
For Annenberg Media, I’m Katie Simons.