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

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

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

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around the world

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of Fire Drill Fridays

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and the impact that they have already had,

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talk to us about the origin of this idea,

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this particular response
to the climate crisis.

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

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and by the young school climate strikers.

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

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We have to behave
like our house is burning,

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because it is.

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And so she really struck a chord in me.

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

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They agree that a drastic
emergency is upon us,

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that it is human-caused.

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But they said

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we can do something about it.

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We have the time, the technology,

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the tools.

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We have everything we need
except political will

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to meet the challenge,

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and it's an enormous challenge.

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We have 11 years, many say, a decade,

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and I thought,

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

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

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We can make the difference

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

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What a glorious responsibility we have.

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We have to step up to the plate."

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And when you're famous,

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

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You have a bigger platform.

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So I decided that, like Greta,

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I was going to put my body on the line

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

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and have a rally every Friday
like the students do.

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And we work with the students.

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

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And then after we speak,

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we engage in civil disobedience
and risk getting arrested.

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Civil disobedience is a powerful tool

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that has changed history many times,

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

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of course in India with Mahatma Gandhi.

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

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

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

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multiple times, actually,

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

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

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that you so kindly mentioned
others have taken,

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

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our lives, our careers

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and our lives on hold,

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as you have done.

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Do you have any concerns
about that at this point?

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

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and do what I'm doing.

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But I must say that
requests are pouring in,

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not only from around the United States

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but from other countries,

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people who want
to start Fire Drill Fridays.

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And the people who are coming
and getting arrested with me

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and engaging with civil disobedience,

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many of them have never done it before,

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and they find it to be transformative.

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

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starting with talking about it,

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expressing how you feel about it
and talking about it,

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even when it's uncomfortable.

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At a holiday dinner table

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and maybe Uncle Bob doesn't agree,

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

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maybe he loves birds.

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There's always a way in with people

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to get them to feel concerned
about the climate crisis.

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Of course, voting is very, very important,

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

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the boldest of our elected officials,

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because the task ahead of us --

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

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we have to get rid
of this current administration,

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and we have to elect people
that are really brave,

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that will step up --

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(Applause)

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

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during the 1930s,
during the Great Depression,

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when he really changed
a great deal about American society.

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And that's what is needed now.

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PM: So Jane, we should also explain,

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

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

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

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is under threat of being arrested.

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There are other parts
of what you're doing,

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like you are currently
in the Greenpeace offices in Washington.

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So explain what else
is a part of Fire Drill Fridays

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and how we could participate
in civil disobedience

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without the risk of getting arrested.

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

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You know, it's by our powers combined.

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There's strength in numbers.

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There's also community in numbers,

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

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this is a collective crisis,

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

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of the commons, of the public sphere,

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is being eroded quite deliberately
by neoliberalism and conservatism.

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And so reconnecting with groups of people,

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like-minded people in a common action,

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is solace to the soul.

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

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So find out what organizations

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

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Of course, Greenpeace has chapters
all around the world.

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

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invite people over
to talk about what's happening.

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

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

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try to join it.

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It's not necessary
to engage in civil disobedience

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and risk getting arrested,

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

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

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

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My grandkids just
got arrested last weekend.

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It was a transformative experience.

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(Laughter)

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

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

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and he was arrested with me.

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

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He sent me a picture
of himself in handcuffs,

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saying, "Now look what you started!"

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(Laughter)

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

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where people are looking
to take the next step.

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They want to put their bodies on the line,

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as Greta Thunberg has exhorted us to do.

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And they find it very rewarding,

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and they want to do it again.

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

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

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and I asked the senators,

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"Is there something else
we should be doing?

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Should we be doing more?"

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And Senator Ed Markey said to me,

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

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Make it bigger.

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We need pressure from the outside."

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

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People need to be amassing
armies for the climate,

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armies for the environment,

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in the streets,

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shutting down governments if necessary.

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I'm thinking of Brazil right now.

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

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

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you are leading these changes.

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

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that you will go back to your life

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and resume that program.

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But will Fire Drill Fridays continue?

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

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as I said, from all around the country,

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people asking if they can start one.

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

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

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

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But I just want to correct one thing:

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I'm not leading.

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

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

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

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

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

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But they're doing it anyway.

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

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And they're saying,

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

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

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So, Grandmas unite!

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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

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than it has been in a very long time.

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The polarities that exist there

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and in many other places around the world

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have kept our collective strength
from being unified and used,

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and in that way, you have been leading us.

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

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

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Success would look like

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every state stops
all new fossil fuel expansion,

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because if they keep drilling
and fracking and mining,

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the problem will just get worse,

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so that no matter what
we do with windmills

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and solar collectors and so forth,

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we'll never be able to catch up.

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We have to stop all new expansion.

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The other thing is,

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they would phase out
fossil fuel emissions gradually,

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making sure that the workers
who would be impacted

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would be retrained at union wages

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and get good new union jobs.

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

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building windmills and solar collectors,

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retrofitting all the houses
in this country, for example,

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laying a new energy grid.

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

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

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

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in a way that's sustainable and equitable.

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So that just gives you such hope,

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

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

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

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And in order for everybody to be involved,

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they have to see something
in it for themselves,

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and that's what a Green New Deal does.

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PM: Jane, you, as always --

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(Applause)

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as you have done
so many times in your life,

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you have taken risk,

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and you have stepped up
to the front lines.

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Do you leave this experience
with any new learning

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or a new level of commitment,
hope or optimism?

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JF: Yeah, I am optimistic.

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

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

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We just have to ask them.

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We have to get organized, you know?

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And we can do that.

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So I feel very hopeful.

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

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

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and I hope I can continue with that.

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

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This coming year is the critical year.

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What happens is going to be so important.

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So we have to be sure,

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especially someone who is healthy,

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who feels relatively young,

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who has a platform --

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

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And if I didn't have that,

250
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then I would find other little ways
that I could do it:

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talk to my neighbors, talk to my friends,

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talk to my family,

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join an organization.

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

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is to do something active.

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

257
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and I think we just recruited a new army.

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(Applause)

259
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Thank you very much, my friend.

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Stay safe.

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

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JF: Thank you, Pat.

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PM: Join me in thanking Jane.

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(Applause)