Jane Fonda warns climate and democracy are both in crisis
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Actress and activist Jane Fonda at the Bloomberg Green Seattle conference on July 14.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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Jane Fonda, one of Hollywood’s most outspoken actors and campaigners, has urged fresh action to tackle failures in politics and progress on emissions reduction.
“We have two essential crises and for both, it’s now or never: democracy and climate,” 87-year-old Fonda told the Bloomberg Green Seattle conference on July 14.
“We’re losing the democratic infrastructure and norms to deal with climate, and we’re losing the climate stability that is essential for democracy. We have to solve them together.”
Fonda has spent much of the past decade raising attention to the issue.
Her climate activism started in 2019, when she launched what she called Fire Drill Fridays, a series of weekly protests near the US Capitol building in Washington, DC. She started her protest to denounce climate inaction and call for the end of fossil fuel use, and was arrested more than once.
“I turned 82 in jail,” said Fonda.
When protesting was not bringing about change fast enough, Fonda got more directly involved in politics. In 2022, she launched the Jane Fonda Climate Political Action Committee, or PAC, to support political candidates and other groups.
The PAC raised nearly US$2 million (S$2.6 million) in the 2022 election cycle and more than US$5.7 million for 2024, according to data compiled by nonprofit Open Secrets.
To make the biggest impact, Fonda said, her PAC is laser-focused on supporting down-ballot state and local elections, including for mayors, city councillors and state legislators. The group has exclusively backed Democrats.
“The most important thing is to elect climate champions up and down the ballot, all over the country, starting yesterday,” she says. The PAC has already endorsed or supported some 170 candidates who won their races, according to Fonda.
Climate policies are under assault
Mr Trump has rolled back a number of policies and cut climate grants and signed a law earlier in June that winds down tax credits for renewables and other carbon-cutting technology like electric vehicles.
Fonda said her PAC is “building a firewall” against Mr Trump at the local and state level. But she argued it takes more than money to address large challenges – and implored the room of attendees to take action.
“Everybody rise up, protest, make yourself heard,” Fonda said, adding it was important to help people understand what’s in Trump’s tax law. “Let’s just not sit around talking about it – let’s really do it. We have to do something really brave here. This is worth saving.” BLOOMBERG
