Why I protest for climate justice

At age 81, actor and activist Jane Fonda is putting herself on the line for the planet -- literally. In a video interview with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Fonda speaks about getting arrested multiple times during Fire Drill Fridays, the weekly climate demonstrations she leads in Washington, DC -- and discusses why civil disobedience is becoming a new normal in the age of climate change.

Pat Mitchell: It's so great
to see you, my friend.

Jane Fonda: Hi Pat.
It's great to be with you.

PM: Jane, for the ones who may not
have seen the extraordinary coverage

around the world

of Fire Drill Fridays

and the impact that they have already had,

talk to us about the origin of this idea,

this particular response
to the climate crisis.

JF: I was very inspired by Greta Thunberg,
the Swedish student,

and by the young school climate strikers.

Greta says we've got to get
out of our comfort zone.

We have to behave
like our house is burning,

because it is.

And so she really struck a chord in me.

And then, learning that just about
100 percent of climate scientists agree.

They agree that a drastic
emergency is upon us,

that it is human-caused.

But they said

we can do something about it.

We have the time, the technology,

the tools.

We have everything we need
except political will

to meet the challenge,

and it's an enormous challenge.

We have 11 years, many say, a decade,

and I thought,

"Oh, I'm so lucky
that I am healthy and living

in a decade where we who are alive
can actually make the difference.

We can make the difference

as to whether there's going
to be a livable future or not.

What a glorious responsibility we have.

We have to step up to the plate."

And when you're famous,

there's a lot of things that you can do.

You have a bigger platform.

So I decided that, like Greta,

I was going to put my body on the line

and move to the center
of American power, Washington, DC,

and have a rally every Friday
like the students do.

And we work with the students.

They speak at my rallies,
and I speak at their rallies.

And then after we speak,

we engage in civil disobedience
and risk getting arrested.

Civil disobedience is a powerful tool

that has changed history many times,

both in the United States in the '60s
during the civil rights movement,

of course in India with Mahatma Gandhi.

And I didn't know in the beginning
if it was going to work or not,

but it's made me very happy
to see what's happening.

PM: It's also led
to your being arrested --

multiple times, actually,

spending at least a night or two
in Washington, DC jails.

And while all of us, I think, recognize
the emergency and the actions

that you so kindly mentioned
others have taken,

I'm not sure that we
would put our bodies at risk,

our lives, our careers

and our lives on hold,

as you have done.

Do you have any concerns
about that at this point?

JF: Well, I realize that not everybody
can leave work and go

and do what I'm doing.

But I must say that
requests are pouring in,

not only from around the United States

but from other countries,

people who want
to start Fire Drill Fridays.

And the people who are coming
and getting arrested with me

and engaging with civil disobedience,

many of them have never done it before,

and they find it to be transformative.

But the fact is that there are
so many things that people can do,

starting with talking about it,

expressing how you feel about it
and talking about it,

even when it's uncomfortable.

At a holiday dinner table

and maybe Uncle Bob doesn't agree,

but, you know, maybe Uncle Bob
is worried about his grandkids,

maybe he loves birds.

There's always a way in with people

to get them to feel concerned
about the climate crisis.

Of course, voting is very, very important,

and we have to vote for the people
that are the bravest,

the boldest of our elected officials,

because the task ahead of us --

all over the world, but certainly
here in the United States --

we have to get rid
of this current administration,

and we have to elect people
that are really brave,

that will step up --

(Applause)

and do the bold actions that are needed,
the way Franklin Delano Roosevelt did

during the 1930s,
during the Great Depression,

when he really changed
a great deal about American society.

And that's what is needed now.

PM: So Jane, we should also explain,

because many people who are here
are thinking, what can they do?

Can they come to Washington
and join you in this action?

We should explain, not everyone
who participates in Fire Drill Fridays

is under threat of being arrested.

There are other parts
of what you're doing,

like you are currently
in the Greenpeace offices in Washington.

So explain what else
is a part of Fire Drill Fridays

and how we could participate
in civil disobedience

without the risk of getting arrested.

JF: First of all, you want to try
not do anything as a lone individual.

You know, it's by our powers combined.

There's strength in numbers.

There's also community in numbers,

and one of the hardest things
about what we're facing now is:

this is a collective crisis,

coming at a time when
the whole notion of the collective,

of the commons, of the public sphere,

is being eroded quite deliberately
by neoliberalism and conservatism.

And so reconnecting with groups of people,

like-minded people in a common action,

is solace to the soul.

It gives you such strength.
It's a great antidote to depression.

So find out what organizations

that are concerned about
the climate crisis are in your area.

Of course, Greenpeace has chapters
all around the world.

And even if you just start yourself,
have house parties,

invite people over
to talk about what's happening.

Find an article that you can all read
and discuss together.

Obviously, if there's
a climate action where you live,

try to join it.

It's not necessary
to engage in civil disobedience

and risk getting arrested,

but it is going to become
the new normal, I think.

It feels like it is here in DC
with Fire Drill Fridays.

People seem to want
to come back and do it again.

My grandkids just
got arrested last weekend.

It was a transformative experience.

(Laughter)

My fellow actor Sam Waterston,
who is a self-described centrist,

he had never spoken at a rally
or risked getting arrested,

and he was arrested with me.

Last week, I see that he was arrested
at the Harvard-Yale game.

He sent me a picture
of himself in handcuffs,

saying, "Now look what you started!"

(Laughter)

You know, we're at a point,
I think, in this crisis

where people are looking
to take the next step.

They want to put their bodies on the line,

as Greta Thunberg has exhorted us to do.

And they find it very rewarding,

and they want to do it again.

So I think that this is good,
what we're doing.

I met with the Senate [Climate Change
Task Force] a few weeks ago,

and I asked the senators,

"Is there something else
we should be doing?

Should we be doing more?"

And Senator Ed Markey said to me,

"You're building an army.
That's what we need.

Make it bigger.

We need pressure from the outside."

And I think that's true
all over the world.

People need to be amassing
armies for the climate,

armies for the environment,

in the streets,

shutting down governments if necessary.

I'm thinking of Brazil right now.

You know, we can't allow
the burning of our precious rainforests.

PM: And as you have done
so many times in the past, Jane,

you are leading these changes.

Eventually, one assumes, especially
the fans of "Grace and Frankie,"

that you will go back to your life

and resume that program.

But will Fire Drill Fridays continue?

JF: Well, there's been
such an interest in it,

as I said, from all around the country,

people asking if they can start one.

And, you know, I have
a lot of celebrity friends

who haven't, for scheduling reasons,
been able to come to DC,

so we're thinking about
maybe doing it in Los Angeles.

But I just want to correct one thing:

I'm not leading.

It's the young people,
it's the students that are leading.

It's always the young people
that step up with the courage,

and it's pretty amazing,
because they're risking a lot.

It's pretty brave to take
a Friday off from school.

You could get bad grades.
You could make your teachers mad.

But they're doing it anyway.

There have been millions of them
at a time, all around the world.

And they're saying,

"Don't let us have to deal
with this by ourselves.

We didn't create this problem.
Come and help us."

So, Grandmas unite!

(Laughter)

(Applause)

PM: And you are in a city
that is probably more divided

than it has been in a very long time.

The polarities that exist there

and in many other places around the world

have kept our collective strength
from being unified and used,

and in that way, you have been leading us.

What would success look like to you
from Fire Drill Fridays?

JF: Well, I can just speak
as a citizen of the United States.

Success would look like

every state stops
all new fossil fuel expansion,

because if they keep drilling
and fracking and mining,

the problem will just get worse,

so that no matter what
we do with windmills

and solar collectors and so forth,

we'll never be able to catch up.

We have to stop all new expansion.

The other thing is,

they would phase out
fossil fuel emissions gradually,

making sure that the workers
who would be impacted

would be retrained at union wages

and get good new union jobs.

There are going to be so many good jobs
with the Green New Deal,

building windmills and solar collectors,

retrofitting all the houses
in this country, for example,

laying a new energy grid.

There's tens of millions of jobs
waiting to be unleashed,

and that's the other thing
that has gotten me mobilized.

A Green New Deal is a framework
for how to take ourselves into the future

in a way that's sustainable and equitable.

So that just gives you such hope,

because if we do it right,
it's going to be a win-win for everyone.

And that has to be the case,
or it won't work,

because to make this work,
everybody's going to have to be involved.

And in order for everybody to be involved,

they have to see something
in it for themselves,

and that's what a Green New Deal does.

PM: Jane, you, as always --

(Applause)

as you have done
so many times in your life,

you have taken risk,

and you have stepped up
to the front lines.

Do you leave this experience
with any new learning

or a new level of commitment,
hope or optimism?

JF: Yeah, I am optimistic.

People in this country are really scared
about the climate crisis,

and they want to do something,
but nobody has asked them.

We just have to ask them.

We have to get organized, you know?

And we can do that.

So I feel very hopeful.

I must say that I am going to go
back to work on "Grace and Frankie,"

but part of my heart
is going to be with Fire Drill Fridays,

and I hope I can continue with that.

I just think that we do
have to build an army.

This coming year is the critical year.

What happens is going to be so important.

So we have to be sure,

especially someone who's healthy,

who feels relatively young,

who has a platform --

we have to use it
in every possible way we can.

And if I didn't have that,

then I would find other little ways
that I could do it:

talk to my neighbors, talk to my friends,

talk to my family,

join an organization.

That's how, also, as I've said,
to stave off depression,

is to do something active.

PM: Jane, at 81, you are modeling
what that can be like for sure,

and I think we just recruited a new army.

(Applause)

Thank you very much, my friend.

Stay safe.

Thank you for all that you have done
for the planet and so much else.

JF: Thank you, Pat.

PM: Join me in thanking Jane.

(Applause)