July 15, 2025 • 26 mins
Actor and activist Jane Fonda discusses the changes she has seen in the environment within her lifetime, and how political activism can lead to environmental change. She speaks at Bloomberg Green Seattle with Jason Kelly and Meg Szabo.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
What a way to end the day, Jane Fonda and
it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
So we have so much to talk to you about, Jane,
Megan and I are so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I know the audience is excited.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And I want to start by asking you because I
guarantee you there are people in this room who are
climate activists who think about the environment because of you, fair.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
That wasn't as enthusiastic as I was hoping for, but
we'll get you there.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And I'm sure I think of climate because of some
of the people.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
In the right, probably true. So to that end, what
ignited you? What made you think about this back in
the day.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I think the fact that I was born in nineteen
thirty seven and spent the first ten years of my
life in California was important. There were only two billion
people on Earth, then is this working? Two billion people?
And guess what two billion people is the caring capacity
(01:11):
of Earth When it comes to us, guys, sustainability means
there can be two billion of us. Well, US has
already been mentioned. There are more than eight billion now,
and demographers said that there'll be ten billion by the
middle of the century. You know, what are we going
to eat? Well, we'll eat cell grown fish, I guess,
(01:31):
but no, really, we're destroying our So you all know
that is better than I do. But what that meant
for me was most people in the thirties they lived
in the country. They didn't live in cities, and that
meant there was a lot of nature. I lived on
the top of a mountain overlook it kind of like this,
(01:53):
overlooking the Pacific Ocean, only not so close farther away,
and there was no smog. There were no freeway, there
was no plastic. And we did just fine. We did.
It was maybe more difficult, but it was just fine.
But you know, I grew I woke up and went
to sleep to the sound of coyotes. I heard mourning
(02:15):
doves and nightingales and meadow larks and bobcats and mountain lions.
And I grew up with animals, and I was always outside,
like a lot of you probably you know, it was
the solace for me. It was not so great inside
the house. Yeah, there's something wrong. Oh well, anyway, I
(02:39):
came back. I moved away. I came back forty years later,
lived near the beach, and people were getting cancer. Lifeguards
were getting cancer. This ocean that I swam in every summer,
I didn't want to go in. People's eyes were burning,
my kids got asthma. It's like this was not the same.
(03:00):
And then I was married to a man named Tom Hayden,
who was a movement leader at the time, and he
we focused a lot on petrol chemicals. There was a
hole in the ozone, there was the cancer, there was
Dow Chemical was one of the main villains at the time. Anyway,
(03:24):
So I've always cared about the environment. I've always cared
about the creatures, the wildlife. And then we discovered through
the work against petrol chemicals that corporations were running the government. Actually,
my husband interviewed Jimmy Carter when he was in the
White House, and Carter said to him, one of the
things that I've realized now is the corporations are running
(03:47):
this country. That was the president that said that. So
so I've always cared. I've always, you know, loved nature
in the environment and didn't like what corporations were doing
to it. And then but I didn't really follow the science.
I didn't really know until like twenty twenty eighteen nineteen,
(04:13):
the degree to which the climate was being challenged primarily
by the burning of fossil fuels, and that wasn't being
talked about then. All that most of the big green organizations,
with the exception of Greenpeace and Oil Change International and
a few others, they talked about the alternatives, you know,
the things that we were working for, but they never
(04:36):
said what was the primary cause of the climate crisis.
And you can't solve the climate crisis unless you talk
about what's causing it primarily. And it wasn't until I
started reading Naomi Klein's a couple of books that she
wrote that made me realize this is existential, This is
(04:56):
different than anything that we have ever faced before. And
and I got very, very depressed. I know what that
feels like, because I knew I wasn't doing enough. And
I called Annie Leonard, who was running green Peace at
the time. She's here, She's the bravest, smartest, most strategic
(05:18):
person I know. And I said, I want to move
to DC and create a ruckus. I want to camp
in front of the White House and I'm going to really,
you know, cook up some good trouble. I was worried
about what.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It's at poop I've done this before and I'm going
to do it again.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, pooping was a problem. I didn't know, how do
you do what do you I know, what to do
in a blizzard or in the country or in a forest,
but well, how what do you do with your poop
when you're camping and protesting in a city?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Think about that?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
But she said, you don't have to worry about pooping
because it's not allowed anymore out to camp out. And so,
long story short, we created fire drill Fridays, which meant
every Friday, we you know, we would focus on a
(06:15):
particular topic involving the climate crisis, and then we would
engage in nonviolent civil disobedience. I mean, this is what
changes history people. If you look at the history of
non violent civil disobedience, it's what's really changed things a lot.
And so we did that and it changed us a lot.
(06:36):
Our goal was not to pressure the government Trump was
in office. We wanted to We knew that about sixty
five to seventy percent of Americans were concerned about climate
We wanted to move from concern to action. And I
was I turned eighty two in jail that that fall,
and I knew that was very important because a lot
(06:56):
of people said said, well, if she can do it.
You know, people came from all over the country, mostly
gray haired women like me, and they came they'd never
been at rallies before, they'd never been arrested before, and
and it really mattered. It made a big difference. There
were a lot of new activists came out of that.
(07:19):
And when COVID hit, we took it online and for
a year we had nine million people that would join
us across all platforms. When when COVID ended, and Annie
and a very small team the board that we have,
it's a small group of people coven it's not a covet.
(07:44):
So we've all for decades marched and protested and lobbied
and written books and and we have not gotten the
legislation that we needed that was commensurate with what science
was saying that we needed. Why because so many people
that we elect to office take money from the fossil
fuel industry and they won't move. And so we said, Okay,
(08:09):
if you can't change the people, change the people, we're
gonna kick them out and get climate champions elected. And
we decided to focus down ballot because that's where you
have a lot of influence. That's where a lot of
the struggles for climate justice and fossil fuel infrastructure and
(08:32):
all this this is where it happens. I mean, you
can't imagine how down ballot, state and local officials have
such power when it comes to the fossil fuel industry,
to saving properties, to stopping fossil fuel infrastructure. Plus it's
less expensive. We didn't we were just new and we
(08:54):
couldn't make a debt in the presidentialial election. It's not
strategic what we did. I think what we're doing is
the most strategic thing all over the country. Governors, mayors,
city council, state legislatures, county executive school boards, public utilities.
These things make such a difference. So we've had I
don't know, something like one hundred and seventy candidates that
(09:16):
have won. We have a two to one running ratio.
We win two to one. We have forty four thousand
donors around the country. We have thousands and thousands of
volunteers that we can get to come out to local campaigns.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And can you tell us a little bit more about
one of the key issues you're focused on right now?
Speaker 1 (09:37):
With the pack climate climate we focus on climate. We
study the candidates a lot. We work with local people
on the ground because they know the best about who
are the good potential candidates? Can they really win? We're
not a protest Pack. We were in it to win it.
(09:57):
Can they win? Can Jane Pack make an appreciable difference
if we endorse? Is this in a heavily industrial area
where people are sick and dying and have absolutely no
help from city councils or supervisors or governors?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That wonderful presentation by the woman what's the name of
the river? Oh? Yeah, that place? As you all know,
there's places like that all over the country, and we
go there and try to help them. Get an electoral
advocate for them, you know, get people elected that are
(10:40):
going to help them. These are the kind of things.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And so, Jane, how often are you finding the candidates
and how often are they finding you?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
How is that evolving? Well?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Where? You know, when we started, none of us had
ever done anything like this before. We built the plane
as we were flying it, and we didn't know whether candidate.
I mean, I'm you know, I'm popular now, but I'm
not all I've been not so popular, and I didn't
know whether you know they would come. They're coming, Yeah,
(11:10):
they are, They're coming because when I show up, you know,
instead of getting seven people to volunteer canvas, they got fifty,
you know, or they raised triple the amount of money
they and the morale is boosted. And it's very it's
really strategic what what we're doing. We're building a firewall
(11:33):
against what Trump is attempting, because they could this is
the place where people are going to be able to
say no, we're not going to do that, you know,
or fight back on developing public land anything.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
And when you say this is the place you're talking
about at the local level and with the utilities and
things like that. Is there a surprising place that you found.
Is there an example of one where you thought, oh,
this is this is how this is going to work.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, they teach us what's going to work. I mean,
we we've had a we flipped the Virginia Legislature. We
had fourteen candidates running for the this is in twenty
twenty three for the Virginia Legislature and thirteen of them
one and it flipped Democratic. Yeah, so that's the kind
(12:23):
of thing that we try to do. Is you all
know now I've forgotten the word trifecta. Is that what
it is? When you get governor, state Senate, and state House,
you got a trifecta. We're going for the trifectas. And
there's a lot more try There's many more. I have
(12:45):
the numbers down here someplace, many more democratic trifectas since
Trump's first there's all kinds of reasons on the ground
in state and local levels. Well, I were in a
very better, much better shape than we were the first
time he was elected. We've got more good people in office,
we have more trifectors, we have more democratic governors and
so on. I mean, we're I see, I'm not depressed.
(13:12):
I am, And it's because you know, Greta Greta Tunberg says,
everybody goes looking for hope, no look for action, and
hope will come. And I know personally in my heart
and soul that that's true. The more you do, the
less depressed you're gonna be, because there's a lot of
reasons to be hopeful.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Jane, have you seen a moment like this before in
your over six decades of activism and and how did
you get through it?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
I have never seen no, We've never never in human
history has a situation like this existed where the Trump
stuff is this working?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Oh yeah, oh yes, we got.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I mean it's just you all are facing this way,
but we're facing this way and we're looking at that.
I mean, I'm from Los Angeles. This is like, wow,
this is why we have to fight this. Yeah, what
was the question?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Historically?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, you've you've been through some bad moments where
the country has gone in a way that you didn't
agree with.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
No, this has never happened. Yeah, I mean, we have
two crises, two essential crises, and for both it's now
we're never democracy and climate and they are absolutely interlinked,
and we have to solve them together. We're losing the
(14:44):
democratic infrastructure and norms to deal with the climate, and
we're losing the climate stability that is essential for a democracy.
We have to solve them together. And we've never fail,
especially in America. We've never faced a threat like this
to our democracy at a time when it's a perfect storm,
(15:07):
at a time when we're being told by climate scientists,
some of you may be in this room, that we
have to cut our emissions, fossil fuel emissions in half
in five years. Now, you know, when I started to
realize what was happening, it was twelve years and we
haven't done it, and now it's five years. By twenty thirty,
we're supposed to cut our emissions in half and then gradually,
(15:31):
not suddenly turn off this picket, but gradually phase out
to zero by mid century. And we can do it
because the alternatives are It's not just that they're there,
but they're ready and they're being used all over the world.
I urge you all to read Bill mckibbon's new article
in The New Yorker. It's about the sun. It's about
(15:53):
the how robustly solar energy has taken over the world,
and no trust is and his minions are going to
be able to turn it around because it's safe, it's cheap,
it's forever, and it's job intensive. There's way more jobs
in that sector than in the fossil fuel sector. So
(16:13):
I mean, what's not to love. We just have to
love it to life, not love it to death, love
it to life. Well, that's a good slogan.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You saw it happen right here. This is great, Jane.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
I feel like you know everybody in this room. I'm
speaking for myself, but I would also think everybody in
this room that's been working in climate for years is
probably feeling a little bit depressed right now and just
the shift that has happened. What advice can you give
to us all to keep us all going and make
us continue to fight the fight, and what can we
do in times like this that are is the most effective.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I think that the thing the most important things to do,
very specifically is elect climate champions up and down the
ballot all over the country starting yesterday. You know, there's
there's We've already got about twenty eight special races this
year and it's an off year, right, you know, we
don't we can't just deal with elections, you know, like
(17:13):
after Labor Day on the year of the election, when
the election is November. We have to This is a
year round thing. Find out who's good, let us know,
let the other organizations know that are working in this sector.
Run yourselves. I mean, god, imagine if all of you
were elected to office. WHOA, it'd be a title a
(17:34):
tsunami coming at the fucking fossil fuel people. By the way,
this is totally non secutary. I mean whatever, But Toyota,
I bought my first Prius from Toyota. I thought Toyota
was a good guy. Toyota is the biggest funder of
anti climate work. They fund disinformation and they stop any
(18:00):
progress that can happen. Did you know that? Most people
don't know that. So I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
So, Jane, you know, it was interesting to we're listening
to the session when we were backstage with the Paradise
folks about climate storytelling. You're a storyteller. You have been
a storyteller for a long time. You're absolutely Academy Award
winning actor, filmmaker. How does being a creator, as the
kids say, how does that influence your activism? And how
(18:30):
does your activism influence the choices you make in terms
of roles that you take or think projects you decide
to pursue.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Well, I've always wanted to support and fight for working women,
so I made nine to five. I don't like solar energy.
Solar energy, I mean nuclear energy. I don't care what
they tell you about these new small modular reacts. I've
done some research. It's not the solution to the climate crisis. Okay, okay, no,
(19:11):
it's not. Time is of the essence, and these things
the fastest take ten years. Most of them take twenty years,
and guess who ends up paying for it us. Speaking
of you asked me what to do, vote for Climate Champions.
And the other thing is make people aware that in
that horrible bill that just passed is I think around
(19:34):
twenty billion dollars of our tax money goes to the
fossil fuel industry and the form of subsidies and tax
rebase and things like that. Most people don't know what's
in the bill. And when they know that their medicaid
is being taken away and their food stamps are being
taken away, and the prices are going up because of
the fossil fuel industry, and at the same time that
(19:57):
that's all being taken away from them, we're giving twenty
billion dollars to the people that are killing us. People
have to know this. If we can, we have to
raise the the heat under the under them by letting
people know what it is that he's done and he's
getting away with it. The other things speaking of not
getting we have to keep him from getting away with it.
(20:18):
We have to protest all the time, constantly, all kinds
of protests, including civil disobedience. You know, I don't know
about you but every time I see a documentary about
the civil rights movement, for example, or anti apartheid, where
people are really being you know, the batons and the
(20:40):
dogs and the hoses, and and I, you know, I
ask myself, would I be brave enough? Could I have
stood up to that? And I've realized I don't have
to ask anymore. This is it. This is our documentary moment.
And so I'm sure you have people, young people whose
(21:03):
lives you know, you'll die and they'll go on and
what it's going to be like, so you want to
do everything. You cancel, they'll know that you tried, that
you fought for them and for their future. This is
our documentary moment. So we have to and we have
to talk about what's in the bill. We have to
let people know. We have to make them mad. We
have to call their attention to the fact that we're
(21:26):
being made to pay for the things that are making
us sick. I think that those are the those are
the things that we have to do, and if we
do them, we won't be depressed. Well that is at
least that's my and I know a lot of other
people too. Hope is a muscle, you know, it's like
the heart. It's different than than optimism, you know, and
(21:49):
optimism says everything's going to be fine and they don't
do anything to make it.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
So.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Hope is the opposite. Hope is you're doing it, and
you're working hard, and you're giving it, you're all and
then and you don't you don't get depressed.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
What keeps you the most hopeful?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
My active and my team, see, I've I've been through
hell in terms of people hating me and being attacked
by the government and everything. I know what it feels
like it's going to get worse than that. Though. Nixon,
you know, he's like kindergarten coming here. I mean Nixon,
you know, the first Earth Day was so huge that
(22:30):
Nixon created the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act,
and the EPA. That was Nixon, a Republican who did that.
So things are worse. What was it that you asked me?
What keeps you hopeful? What I do and the fact
that I'm not alone. I'm part of a movement. I
have a a board of of people here, and then
(22:54):
people believe it in what I'm doing. That keeps me.
Michael Bloomberg, I mean, I guess it's appropriate to talk
about him for a second. I've done some billionaires up
close in person, and they're different. You know, some people
(23:14):
are billionaires and give away a lot of money because
they want to go to heaven and they wanted to
be considered a good guy. And then there's Michael Bloomberg,
and it blows my mind. Here is this white male
billionaire in New York who understands that in this climate space,
what's strategic is listening to black women on the ground
(23:37):
in Louisiana. It's unbelievable what his petrochemical philanthropies has done
in the area which is the hotspot of the climate crisis,
the Gulf of Mexico, a lot, Texas and Louisiana, where
(24:00):
are shrimp and clams and oysters and fish come from.
Don't eat them if they come from there. I mean,
I've seen it up close and personal. They're killing people.
They're wiping out entire communities, like every house has somebody
in it that has cancer. And Michael Bloomberg is doing
something about it. He is, really It just blows my mind.
(24:24):
And another group that I think is represented here is
Patagonia and hold Fast and their CEO, and they've been
very generous to the pack too, so that gives me
hope and being with you know, with with with a
great board. My pack has a small board of experts,
(24:44):
and then just listening to the people that have talked
to you. There's so many people that are involved in this,
and I just don't think that we're gonna let it.
I don't think we're gonna let it go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I have no doubt you're gonna You're not letting it go.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
I think, well, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Well, I think it matters a great deal. And I
know that I speak on behalf of the audience. We
can pick those up on the way out. We really
appreciate your time, Jane, thank you so much for coming up.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
But everybody, rise up, protest, make yourself heard, make people
understand what's in that bill. You know, let's just not
sit around talking about it. Let's really do it. Okay.
I don't know how many raise your hand if you
come from this area. Okay, I wish I could take
(25:32):
all of your names, because we're coming back. We have
to do something really brave here. This is worth saving.
And I learned from my friend Jay Insley, you've already
lost that tremendously important help forrest that was here, that's gone.
I mean, there's so many things going. So if I
(25:55):
come back and we put out the word, I hope
all of those people who raise their hands will join
us doing something fun. Trouble, good, trouble. Okay, thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Thank you. Thanks Shane fund Man,
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
What a way to end the day, Jane Fonda and
it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
So we have so much to talk to you about, Jane,
Megan and I are so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I know the audience is excited.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And I want to start by asking you because I
guarantee you there are people in this room who are
climate activists who think about the environment because of you, fair.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Man.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
That wasn't as enthusiastic as I was hoping for, but
we'll get you there.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And I'm sure I think of climate because of some
of the people.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
In the right, probably true. So to that end, what
ignited you? What made you think about this back in
the day.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I think the fact that I was born in nineteen
thirty seven and spent the first ten years of my
life in California was important. There were only two billion
people on Earth, then is this working? Two billion people?
And guess what two billion people is the caring capacity
(01:11):
of Earth When it comes to us, guys, sustainability means
there can be two billion of us. Well, US has
already been mentioned. There are more than eight billion now,
and demographers said that there'll be ten billion by the
middle of the century. You know, what are we going
to eat? Well, we'll eat cell grown fish, I guess,
(01:31):
but no, really, we're destroying our So you all know
that is better than I do. But what that meant
for me was most people in the thirties they lived
in the country. They didn't live in cities, and that
meant there was a lot of nature. I lived on
the top of a mountain overlook it kind of like this,
(01:53):
overlooking the Pacific Ocean, only not so close farther away,
and there was no smog. There were no freeway, there
was no plastic. And we did just fine. We did.
It was maybe more difficult, but it was just fine.
But you know, I grew I woke up and went
to sleep to the sound of coyotes. I heard mourning
(02:15):
doves and nightingales and meadow larks and bobcats and mountain lions.
And I grew up with animals, and I was always outside,
like a lot of you probably you know, it was
the solace for me. It was not so great inside
the house. Yeah, there's something wrong. Oh well, anyway, I
(02:39):
came back. I moved away. I came back forty years later,
lived near the beach, and people were getting cancer. Lifeguards
were getting cancer. This ocean that I swam in every summer,
I didn't want to go in. People's eyes were burning,
my kids got asthma. It's like this was not the same.
(03:00):
And then I was married to a man named Tom Hayden,
who was a movement leader at the time, and he
we focused a lot on petrol chemicals. There was a
hole in the ozone, there was the cancer, there was
Dow Chemical was one of the main villains at the time. Anyway,
(03:24):
So I've always cared about the environment. I've always cared
about the creatures, the wildlife. And then we discovered through
the work against petrol chemicals that corporations were running the government. Actually,
my husband interviewed Jimmy Carter when he was in the
White House, and Carter said to him, one of the
things that I've realized now is the corporations are running
(03:47):
this country. That was the president that said that. So
so I've always cared. I've always, you know, loved nature
in the environment and didn't like what corporations were doing
to it. And then but I didn't really follow the science.
I didn't really know until like twenty twenty eighteen nineteen,
(04:13):
the degree to which the climate was being challenged primarily
by the burning of fossil fuels, and that wasn't being
talked about then. All that most of the big green organizations,
with the exception of Greenpeace and Oil Change International and
a few others, they talked about the alternatives, you know,
the things that we were working for, but they never
(04:36):
said what was the primary cause of the climate crisis.
And you can't solve the climate crisis unless you talk
about what's causing it primarily. And it wasn't until I
started reading Naomi Klein's a couple of books that she
wrote that made me realize this is existential, This is
(04:56):
different than anything that we have ever faced before. And
and I got very, very depressed. I know what that
feels like, because I knew I wasn't doing enough. And
I called Annie Leonard, who was running green Peace at
the time. She's here, She's the bravest, smartest, most strategic
(05:18):
person I know. And I said, I want to move
to DC and create a ruckus. I want to camp
in front of the White House and I'm going to really,
you know, cook up some good trouble. I was worried
about what.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It's at poop I've done this before and I'm going
to do it again.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, pooping was a problem. I didn't know, how do
you do what do you I know, what to do
in a blizzard or in the country or in a forest,
but well, how what do you do with your poop
when you're camping and protesting in a city?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Think about that?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
But she said, you don't have to worry about pooping
because it's not allowed anymore out to camp out. And so,
long story short, we created fire drill Fridays, which meant
every Friday, we you know, we would focus on a
(06:15):
particular topic involving the climate crisis, and then we would
engage in nonviolent civil disobedience. I mean, this is what
changes history people. If you look at the history of
non violent civil disobedience, it's what's really changed things a lot.
And so we did that and it changed us a lot.
(06:36):
Our goal was not to pressure the government Trump was
in office. We wanted to We knew that about sixty
five to seventy percent of Americans were concerned about climate
We wanted to move from concern to action. And I
was I turned eighty two in jail that that fall,
and I knew that was very important because a lot
(06:56):
of people said said, well, if she can do it.
You know, people came from all over the country, mostly
gray haired women like me, and they came they'd never
been at rallies before, they'd never been arrested before, and
and it really mattered. It made a big difference. There
were a lot of new activists came out of that.
(07:19):
And when COVID hit, we took it online and for
a year we had nine million people that would join
us across all platforms. When when COVID ended, and Annie
and a very small team the board that we have,
it's a small group of people coven it's not a covet.
(07:44):
So we've all for decades marched and protested and lobbied
and written books and and we have not gotten the
legislation that we needed that was commensurate with what science
was saying that we needed. Why because so many people
that we elect to office take money from the fossil
fuel industry and they won't move. And so we said, Okay,
(08:09):
if you can't change the people, change the people, we're
gonna kick them out and get climate champions elected. And
we decided to focus down ballot because that's where you
have a lot of influence. That's where a lot of
the struggles for climate justice and fossil fuel infrastructure and
(08:32):
all this this is where it happens. I mean, you
can't imagine how down ballot, state and local officials have
such power when it comes to the fossil fuel industry,
to saving properties, to stopping fossil fuel infrastructure. Plus it's
less expensive. We didn't we were just new and we
(08:54):
couldn't make a debt in the presidentialial election. It's not
strategic what we did. I think what we're doing is
the most strategic thing all over the country. Governors, mayors,
city council, state legislatures, county executive school boards, public utilities.
These things make such a difference. So we've had I
don't know, something like one hundred and seventy candidates that
(09:16):
have won. We have a two to one running ratio.
We win two to one. We have forty four thousand
donors around the country. We have thousands and thousands of
volunteers that we can get to come out to local campaigns.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And can you tell us a little bit more about
one of the key issues you're focused on right now?
Speaker 1 (09:37):
With the pack climate climate we focus on climate. We
study the candidates a lot. We work with local people
on the ground because they know the best about who
are the good potential candidates? Can they really win? We're
not a protest Pack. We were in it to win it.
(09:57):
Can they win? Can Jane Pack make an appreciable difference
if we endorse? Is this in a heavily industrial area
where people are sick and dying and have absolutely no
help from city councils or supervisors or governors?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That wonderful presentation by the woman what's the name of
the river? Oh? Yeah, that place? As you all know,
there's places like that all over the country, and we
go there and try to help them. Get an electoral
advocate for them, you know, get people elected that are
(10:40):
going to help them. These are the kind of things.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And so, Jane, how often are you finding the candidates
and how often are they finding you?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
How is that evolving? Well?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Where? You know, when we started, none of us had
ever done anything like this before. We built the plane
as we were flying it, and we didn't know whether candidate.
I mean, I'm you know, I'm popular now, but I'm
not all I've been not so popular, and I didn't
know whether you know they would come. They're coming, Yeah,
(11:10):
they are, They're coming because when I show up, you know,
instead of getting seven people to volunteer canvas, they got fifty,
you know, or they raised triple the amount of money
they and the morale is boosted. And it's very it's
really strategic what what we're doing. We're building a firewall
(11:33):
against what Trump is attempting, because they could this is
the place where people are going to be able to
say no, we're not going to do that, you know,
or fight back on developing public land anything.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
And when you say this is the place you're talking
about at the local level and with the utilities and
things like that. Is there a surprising place that you found.
Is there an example of one where you thought, oh,
this is this is how this is going to work.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, they teach us what's going to work. I mean,
we we've had a we flipped the Virginia Legislature. We
had fourteen candidates running for the this is in twenty
twenty three for the Virginia Legislature and thirteen of them
one and it flipped Democratic. Yeah, so that's the kind
(12:23):
of thing that we try to do. Is you all
know now I've forgotten the word trifecta. Is that what
it is? When you get governor, state Senate, and state House,
you got a trifecta. We're going for the trifectas. And
there's a lot more try There's many more. I have
(12:45):
the numbers down here someplace, many more democratic trifectas since
Trump's first there's all kinds of reasons on the ground
in state and local levels. Well, I were in a
very better, much better shape than we were the first
time he was elected. We've got more good people in office,
we have more trifectors, we have more democratic governors and
so on. I mean, we're I see, I'm not depressed.
(13:12):
I am, And it's because you know, Greta Greta Tunberg says,
everybody goes looking for hope, no look for action, and
hope will come. And I know personally in my heart
and soul that that's true. The more you do, the
less depressed you're gonna be, because there's a lot of
reasons to be hopeful.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Jane, have you seen a moment like this before in
your over six decades of activism and and how did
you get through it?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
I have never seen no, We've never never in human
history has a situation like this existed where the Trump
stuff is this working?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Oh yeah, oh yes, we got.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I mean it's just you all are facing this way,
but we're facing this way and we're looking at that.
I mean, I'm from Los Angeles. This is like, wow,
this is why we have to fight this. Yeah, what
was the question?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Historically?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, you've you've been through some bad moments where
the country has gone in a way that you didn't
agree with.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
No, this has never happened. Yeah, I mean, we have
two crises, two essential crises, and for both it's now
we're never democracy and climate and they are absolutely interlinked,
and we have to solve them together. We're losing the
(14:44):
democratic infrastructure and norms to deal with the climate, and
we're losing the climate stability that is essential for a democracy.
We have to solve them together. And we've never fail,
especially in America. We've never faced a threat like this
to our democracy at a time when it's a perfect storm,
(15:07):
at a time when we're being told by climate scientists,
some of you may be in this room, that we
have to cut our emissions, fossil fuel emissions in half
in five years. Now, you know, when I started to
realize what was happening, it was twelve years and we
haven't done it, and now it's five years. By twenty thirty,
we're supposed to cut our emissions in half and then gradually,
(15:31):
not suddenly turn off this picket, but gradually phase out
to zero by mid century. And we can do it
because the alternatives are It's not just that they're there,
but they're ready and they're being used all over the world.
I urge you all to read Bill mckibbon's new article
in The New Yorker. It's about the sun. It's about
(15:53):
the how robustly solar energy has taken over the world,
and no trust is and his minions are going to
be able to turn it around because it's safe, it's cheap,
it's forever, and it's job intensive. There's way more jobs
in that sector than in the fossil fuel sector. So
(16:13):
I mean, what's not to love. We just have to
love it to life, not love it to death, love
it to life. Well, that's a good slogan.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You saw it happen right here. This is great, Jane.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
I feel like you know everybody in this room. I'm
speaking for myself, but I would also think everybody in
this room that's been working in climate for years is
probably feeling a little bit depressed right now and just
the shift that has happened. What advice can you give
to us all to keep us all going and make
us continue to fight the fight, and what can we
do in times like this that are is the most effective.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I think that the thing the most important things to do,
very specifically is elect climate champions up and down the
ballot all over the country starting yesterday. You know, there's
there's We've already got about twenty eight special races this
year and it's an off year, right, you know, we
don't we can't just deal with elections, you know, like
(17:13):
after Labor Day on the year of the election, when
the election is November. We have to This is a
year round thing. Find out who's good, let us know,
let the other organizations know that are working in this sector.
Run yourselves. I mean, god, imagine if all of you
were elected to office. WHOA, it'd be a title a
(17:34):
tsunami coming at the fucking fossil fuel people. By the way,
this is totally non secutary. I mean whatever, But Toyota,
I bought my first Prius from Toyota. I thought Toyota
was a good guy. Toyota is the biggest funder of
anti climate work. They fund disinformation and they stop any
(18:00):
progress that can happen. Did you know that? Most people
don't know that. So I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
So, Jane, you know, it was interesting to we're listening
to the session when we were backstage with the Paradise
folks about climate storytelling. You're a storyteller. You have been
a storyteller for a long time. You're absolutely Academy Award
winning actor, filmmaker. How does being a creator, as the
kids say, how does that influence your activism? And how
(18:30):
does your activism influence the choices you make in terms
of roles that you take or think projects you decide
to pursue.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Well, I've always wanted to support and fight for working women,
so I made nine to five. I don't like solar energy.
Solar energy, I mean nuclear energy. I don't care what
they tell you about these new small modular reacts. I've
done some research. It's not the solution to the climate crisis. Okay, okay, no,
(19:11):
it's not. Time is of the essence, and these things
the fastest take ten years. Most of them take twenty years,
and guess who ends up paying for it us. Speaking
of you asked me what to do, vote for Climate Champions.
And the other thing is make people aware that in
that horrible bill that just passed is I think around
(19:34):
twenty billion dollars of our tax money goes to the
fossil fuel industry and the form of subsidies and tax
rebase and things like that. Most people don't know what's
in the bill. And when they know that their medicaid
is being taken away and their food stamps are being
taken away, and the prices are going up because of
the fossil fuel industry, and at the same time that
(19:57):
that's all being taken away from them, we're giving twenty
billion dollars to the people that are killing us. People
have to know this. If we can, we have to
raise the the heat under the under them by letting
people know what it is that he's done and he's
getting away with it. The other things speaking of not
getting we have to keep him from getting away with it.
(20:18):
We have to protest all the time, constantly, all kinds
of protests, including civil disobedience. You know, I don't know
about you but every time I see a documentary about
the civil rights movement, for example, or anti apartheid, where
people are really being you know, the batons and the
(20:40):
dogs and the hoses, and and I, you know, I
ask myself, would I be brave enough? Could I have
stood up to that? And I've realized I don't have
to ask anymore. This is it. This is our documentary moment.
And so I'm sure you have people, young people whose
(21:03):
lives you know, you'll die and they'll go on and
what it's going to be like, so you want to
do everything. You cancel, they'll know that you tried, that
you fought for them and for their future. This is
our documentary moment. So we have to and we have
to talk about what's in the bill. We have to
let people know. We have to make them mad. We
have to call their attention to the fact that we're
(21:26):
being made to pay for the things that are making
us sick. I think that those are the those are
the things that we have to do, and if we
do them, we won't be depressed. Well that is at
least that's my and I know a lot of other
people too. Hope is a muscle, you know, it's like
the heart. It's different than than optimism, you know, and
(21:49):
optimism says everything's going to be fine and they don't
do anything to make it.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
So.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Hope is the opposite. Hope is you're doing it, and
you're working hard, and you're giving it, you're all and
then and you don't you don't get depressed.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
What keeps you the most hopeful?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
My active and my team, see, I've I've been through
hell in terms of people hating me and being attacked
by the government and everything. I know what it feels
like it's going to get worse than that. Though. Nixon,
you know, he's like kindergarten coming here. I mean Nixon,
you know, the first Earth Day was so huge that
(22:30):
Nixon created the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act,
and the EPA. That was Nixon, a Republican who did that.
So things are worse. What was it that you asked me?
What keeps you hopeful? What I do and the fact
that I'm not alone. I'm part of a movement. I
have a a board of of people here, and then
(22:54):
people believe it in what I'm doing. That keeps me.
Michael Bloomberg, I mean, I guess it's appropriate to talk
about him for a second. I've done some billionaires up
close in person, and they're different. You know, some people
(23:14):
are billionaires and give away a lot of money because
they want to go to heaven and they wanted to
be considered a good guy. And then there's Michael Bloomberg,
and it blows my mind. Here is this white male
billionaire in New York who understands that in this climate space,
what's strategic is listening to black women on the ground
(23:37):
in Louisiana. It's unbelievable what his petrochemical philanthropies has done
in the area which is the hotspot of the climate crisis,
the Gulf of Mexico, a lot, Texas and Louisiana, where
(24:00):
are shrimp and clams and oysters and fish come from.
Don't eat them if they come from there. I mean,
I've seen it up close and personal. They're killing people.
They're wiping out entire communities, like every house has somebody
in it that has cancer. And Michael Bloomberg is doing
something about it. He is, really It just blows my mind.
(24:24):
And another group that I think is represented here is
Patagonia and hold Fast and their CEO, and they've been
very generous to the pack too, so that gives me
hope and being with you know, with with with a
great board. My pack has a small board of experts,
(24:44):
and then just listening to the people that have talked
to you. There's so many people that are involved in this,
and I just don't think that we're gonna let it.
I don't think we're gonna let it go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I have no doubt you're gonna You're not letting it go.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
I think, well, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Well, I think it matters a great deal. And I
know that I speak on behalf of the audience. We
can pick those up on the way out. We really
appreciate your time, Jane, thank you so much for coming up.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
But everybody, rise up, protest, make yourself heard, make people
understand what's in that bill. You know, let's just not
sit around talking about it. Let's really do it. Okay.
I don't know how many raise your hand if you
come from this area. Okay, I wish I could take
(25:32):
all of your names, because we're coming back. We have
to do something really brave here. This is worth saving.
And I learned from my friend Jay Insley, you've already
lost that tremendously important help forrest that was here, that's gone.
I mean, there's so many things going. So if I
(25:55):
come back and we put out the word, I hope
all of those people who raise their hands will join
us doing something fun. Trouble, good, trouble. Okay, thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Thank you. Thanks Shane fund Man,
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