WEBVTT - Jane Fonda Talks Environmental Activism at Bloomberg Green Seattle 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:07.040 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:11.399 What a way to end the day, Jane Fonda and 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:12.320 it's amazing. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.240 So we have so much to talk to you about, Jane, 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:19.680 Megan and I are so excited. 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:21.240 I know the audience is excited. 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.560 And I want to start by asking you because I 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.680 guarantee you there are people in this room who are 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:31.160 climate activists who think about the environment because of you, fair. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:34.080 Man. 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.159 That wasn't as enthusiastic as I was hoping for, but 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:38.040 we'll get you there. 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.040 And I'm sure I think of climate because of some 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:40.800 of the people. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.120 In the right, probably true. So to that end, what 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.320 ignited you? What made you think about this back in 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:47.639 the day. 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.839 I think the fact that I was born in nineteen 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.599 thirty seven and spent the first ten years of my 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:58.680 life in California was important. There were only two billion 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:05.800 people on Earth, then is this working? Two billion people? 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:11.000 And guess what two billion people is the caring capacity 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:15.920 of Earth When it comes to us, guys, sustainability means 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.880 there can be two billion of us. Well, US has 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.360 already been mentioned. There are more than eight billion now, 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.240 and demographers said that there'll be ten billion by the 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.800 middle of the century. You know, what are we going 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:31.440 to eat? Well, we'll eat cell grown fish, I guess, 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.000 but no, really, we're destroying our So you all know 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.679 that is better than I do. But what that meant 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:44.119 for me was most people in the thirties they lived 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.119 in the country. They didn't live in cities, and that 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.480 meant there was a lot of nature. I lived on 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.080 the top of a mountain overlook it kind of like this, 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:57.040 overlooking the Pacific Ocean, only not so close farther away, 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.520 and there was no smog. There were no freeway, there 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:04.520 was no plastic. And we did just fine. We did. 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:10.320 It was maybe more difficult, but it was just fine. 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:12.639 But you know, I grew I woke up and went 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.640 to sleep to the sound of coyotes. I heard mourning 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:21.960 doves and nightingales and meadow larks and bobcats and mountain lions. 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.720 And I grew up with animals, and I was always outside, 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.720 like a lot of you probably you know, it was 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.200 the solace for me. It was not so great inside 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:39.720 the house. Yeah, there's something wrong. Oh well, anyway, I 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.680 came back. I moved away. I came back forty years later, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.359 lived near the beach, and people were getting cancer. Lifeguards 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.480 were getting cancer. This ocean that I swam in every summer, 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.960 I didn't want to go in. People's eyes were burning, 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:59.359 my kids got asthma. It's like this was not the same. 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.200 And then I was married to a man named Tom Hayden, 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.160 who was a movement leader at the time, and he 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.160 we focused a lot on petrol chemicals. There was a 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.200 hole in the ozone, there was the cancer, there was 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:24.160 Dow Chemical was one of the main villains at the time. Anyway, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.200 So I've always cared about the environment. I've always cared 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:32.600 about the creatures, the wildlife. And then we discovered through 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:38.080 the work against petrol chemicals that corporations were running the government. Actually, 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.440 my husband interviewed Jimmy Carter when he was in the 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.520 White House, and Carter said to him, one of the 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.280 things that I've realized now is the corporations are running 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:52.800 this country. That was the president that said that. So 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:58.560 so I've always cared. I've always, you know, loved nature 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:02.480 in the environment and didn't like what corporations were doing 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.280 to it. And then but I didn't really follow the science. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.080 I didn't really know until like twenty twenty eighteen nineteen, 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:18.360 the degree to which the climate was being challenged primarily 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.440 by the burning of fossil fuels, and that wasn't being 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.880 talked about then. All that most of the big green organizations, 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:28.279 with the exception of Greenpeace and Oil Change International and 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.760 a few others, they talked about the alternatives, you know, 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.680 the things that we were working for, but they never 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:38.920 said what was the primary cause of the climate crisis. 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.200 And you can't solve the climate crisis unless you talk 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.159 about what's causing it primarily. And it wasn't until I 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.960 started reading Naomi Klein's a couple of books that she 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:56.240 wrote that made me realize this is existential, This is 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.280 different than anything that we have ever faced before. And 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.640 and I got very, very depressed. I know what that 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:07.680 feels like, because I knew I wasn't doing enough. And 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.480 I called Annie Leonard, who was running green Peace at 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:18.160 the time. She's here, She's the bravest, smartest, most strategic 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.440 person I know. And I said, I want to move 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.560 to DC and create a ruckus. I want to camp 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.760 in front of the White House and I'm going to really, 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.679 you know, cook up some good trouble. I was worried 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:31.080 about what. 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.200 It's at poop I've done this before and I'm going 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:33.880 to do it again. 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:42.320 Yeah, pooping was a problem. I didn't know, how do 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:44.560 you do what do you I know, what to do 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.039 in a blizzard or in the country or in a forest, 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.159 but well, how what do you do with your poop 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.640 when you're camping and protesting in a city? 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.080 Think about that? 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.400 But she said, you don't have to worry about pooping 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.680 because it's not allowed anymore out to camp out. And so, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:11.960 long story short, we created fire drill Fridays, which meant 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:15.880 every Friday, we you know, we would focus on a 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.479 particular topic involving the climate crisis, and then we would 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.800 engage in nonviolent civil disobedience. I mean, this is what 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.800 changes history people. If you look at the history of 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.560 non violent civil disobedience, it's what's really changed things a lot. 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.279 And so we did that and it changed us a lot. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.680 Our goal was not to pressure the government Trump was 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.320 in office. We wanted to We knew that about sixty 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:46.120 five to seventy percent of Americans were concerned about climate 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.440 We wanted to move from concern to action. And I 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.520 was I turned eighty two in jail that that fall, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.800 and I knew that was very important because a lot 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:01.440 of people said said, well, if she can do it. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.400 You know, people came from all over the country, mostly 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.320 gray haired women like me, and they came they'd never 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:13.920 been at rallies before, they'd never been arrested before, and 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.720 and it really mattered. It made a big difference. There 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.080 were a lot of new activists came out of that. 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.720 And when COVID hit, we took it online and for 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.880 a year we had nine million people that would join 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:30.560 us across all platforms. When when COVID ended, and Annie 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.480 and a very small team the board that we have, 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:38.760 it's a small group of people coven it's not a covet. 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.920 So we've all for decades marched and protested and lobbied 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.320 and written books and and we have not gotten the 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.480 legislation that we needed that was commensurate with what science 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:01.680 was saying that we needed. Why because so many people 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:04.160 that we elect to office take money from the fossil 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:09.800 fuel industry and they won't move. And so we said, Okay, 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:14.000 if you can't change the people, change the people, we're 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:19.120 gonna kick them out and get climate champions elected. And 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:24.040 we decided to focus down ballot because that's where you 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.400 have a lot of influence. That's where a lot of 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:32.400 the struggles for climate justice and fossil fuel infrastructure and 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:34.679 all this this is where it happens. I mean, you 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.440 can't imagine how down ballot, state and local officials have 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:43.600 such power when it comes to the fossil fuel industry, 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:49.839 to saving properties, to stopping fossil fuel infrastructure. Plus it's 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:54.720 less expensive. We didn't we were just new and we 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.040 couldn't make a debt in the presidentialial election. It's not 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.719 strategic what we did. I think what we're doing is 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.440 the most strategic thing all over the country. Governors, mayors, 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:10.160 city council, state legislatures, county executive school boards, public utilities. 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.199 These things make such a difference. So we've had I 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.840 don't know, something like one hundred and seventy candidates that 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.439 have won. We have a two to one running ratio. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.560 We win two to one. We have forty four thousand 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:28.240 donors around the country. We have thousands and thousands of 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.800 volunteers that we can get to come out to local campaigns. 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:35.040 And can you tell us a little bit more about 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.120 one of the key issues you're focused on right now? 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:42.920 With the pack climate climate we focus on climate. We 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.600 study the candidates a lot. We work with local people 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.360 on the ground because they know the best about who 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.640 are the good potential candidates? Can they really win? We're 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.200 not a protest Pack. We were in it to win it. 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:01.800 Can they win? Can Jane Pack make an appreciable difference 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:08.640 if we endorse? Is this in a heavily industrial area 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.160 where people are sick and dying and have absolutely no 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.800 help from city councils or supervisors or governors? 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:16.319 You know. 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.599 That wonderful presentation by the woman what's the name of 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:28.560 the river? Oh? Yeah, that place? As you all know, 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.920 there's places like that all over the country, and we 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:36.080 go there and try to help them. Get an electoral 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.240 advocate for them, you know, get people elected that are 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.480 going to help them. These are the kind of things. 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.679 And so, Jane, how often are you finding the candidates 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:48.319 and how often are they finding you? 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:49.920 How is that evolving? Well? 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.400 Where? You know, when we started, none of us had 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.880 ever done anything like this before. We built the plane 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.720 as we were flying it, and we didn't know whether candidate. 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.800 I mean, I'm you know, I'm popular now, but I'm 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:07.160 not all I've been not so popular, and I didn't 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.880 know whether you know they would come. They're coming, Yeah, 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.480 they are, They're coming because when I show up, you know, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.920 instead of getting seven people to volunteer canvas, they got fifty, 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.680 you know, or they raised triple the amount of money 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:27.680 they and the morale is boosted. And it's very it's 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:32.360 really strategic what what we're doing. We're building a firewall 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.880 against what Trump is attempting, because they could this is 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:38.599 the place where people are going to be able to 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.560 say no, we're not going to do that, you know, 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.480 or fight back on developing public land anything. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.560 And when you say this is the place you're talking 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.679 about at the local level and with the utilities and 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.920 things like that. Is there a surprising place that you found. 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.240 Is there an example of one where you thought, oh, 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.960 this is this is how this is going to work. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.360 Well, they teach us what's going to work. I mean, 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:11.240 we we've had a we flipped the Virginia Legislature. We 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.960 had fourteen candidates running for the this is in twenty 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:19.679 twenty three for the Virginia Legislature and thirteen of them 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.199 one and it flipped Democratic. Yeah, so that's the kind 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.200 of thing that we try to do. Is you all 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:32.439 know now I've forgotten the word trifecta. Is that what 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:37.880 it is? When you get governor, state Senate, and state House, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:42.520 you got a trifecta. We're going for the trifectas. And 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.400 there's a lot more try There's many more. I have 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:49.400 the numbers down here someplace, many more democratic trifectas since 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.480 Trump's first there's all kinds of reasons on the ground 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:54.960 in state and local levels. Well, I were in a 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.559 very better, much better shape than we were the first 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.840 time he was elected. We've got more good people in office, 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.120 we have more trifectors, we have more democratic governors and 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:09.160 so on. I mean, we're I see, I'm not depressed. 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:16.240 I am, And it's because you know, Greta Greta Tunberg says, 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:21.480 everybody goes looking for hope, no look for action, and 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.040 hope will come. And I know personally in my heart 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.040 and soul that that's true. The more you do, the 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.920 less depressed you're gonna be, because there's a lot of 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:32.160 reasons to be hopeful. 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.880 Jane, have you seen a moment like this before in 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.360 your over six decades of activism and and how did 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:40.080 you get through it? 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.800 I have never seen no, We've never never in human 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:51.959 history has a situation like this existed where the Trump 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:54.400 stuff is this working? 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:56.720 Oh yeah, oh yes, we got. 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.400 I mean it's just you all are facing this way, 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.960 but we're facing this way and we're looking at that. 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.880 I mean, I'm from Los Angeles. This is like, wow, 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:15.320 this is why we have to fight this. Yeah, what 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:16.000 was the question? 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:17.960 Historically? 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.960 I mean, you've you've been through some bad moments where 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.240 the country has gone in a way that you didn't 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:23.640 agree with. 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.280 No, this has never happened. Yeah, I mean, we have 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:34.560 two crises, two essential crises, and for both it's now 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:39.120 we're never democracy and climate and they are absolutely interlinked, 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.800 and we have to solve them together. We're losing the 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:49.800 democratic infrastructure and norms to deal with the climate, and 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:55.360 we're losing the climate stability that is essential for a democracy. 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.960 We have to solve them together. And we've never fail, 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:04.400 especially in America. We've never faced a threat like this 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.800 to our democracy at a time when it's a perfect storm, 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:12.440 at a time when we're being told by climate scientists, 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.920 some of you may be in this room, that we 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.040 have to cut our emissions, fossil fuel emissions in half 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.200 in five years. Now, you know, when I started to 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.040 realize what was happening, it was twelve years and we 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.440 haven't done it, and now it's five years. By twenty thirty, 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.120 we're supposed to cut our emissions in half and then gradually, 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.160 not suddenly turn off this picket, but gradually phase out 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.120 to zero by mid century. And we can do it 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:43.120 because the alternatives are It's not just that they're there, 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.280 but they're ready and they're being used all over the world. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.760 I urge you all to read Bill mckibbon's new article 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.960 in The New Yorker. It's about the sun. It's about 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:58.640 the how robustly solar energy has taken over the world, 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.640 and no trust is and his minions are going to 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:06.400 be able to turn it around because it's safe, it's cheap, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.720 it's forever, and it's job intensive. There's way more jobs 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.600 in that sector than in the fossil fuel sector. So 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:15.800 I mean, what's not to love. We just have to 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.920 love it to life, not love it to death, love 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.480 it to life. Well, that's a good slogan. 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.440 You saw it happen right here. This is great, Jane. 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:29.760 I feel like you know everybody in this room. I'm 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:31.880 speaking for myself, but I would also think everybody in 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:33.880 this room that's been working in climate for years is 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:38.120 probably feeling a little bit depressed right now and just 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.400 the shift that has happened. What advice can you give 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:43.640 to us all to keep us all going and make 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.920 us continue to fight the fight, and what can we 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:48.600 do in times like this that are is the most effective. 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.280 I think that the thing the most important things to do, 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.760 very specifically is elect climate champions up and down the 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:02.480 ballot all over the country starting yesterday. You know, there's 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:07.040 there's We've already got about twenty eight special races this 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.760 year and it's an off year, right, you know, we 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.440 don't we can't just deal with elections, you know, like 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.280 after Labor Day on the year of the election, when 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.600 the election is November. We have to This is a 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.000 year round thing. Find out who's good, let us know, 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.800 let the other organizations know that are working in this sector. 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.159 Run yourselves. I mean, god, imagine if all of you 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.720 were elected to office. WHOA, it'd be a title a 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:41.560 tsunami coming at the fucking fossil fuel people. By the way, 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:46.840 this is totally non secutary. I mean whatever, But Toyota, 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.000 I bought my first Prius from Toyota. I thought Toyota 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:54.040 was a good guy. Toyota is the biggest funder of 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:59.760 anti climate work. They fund disinformation and they stop any 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.600 progress that can happen. Did you know that? Most people 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:05.439 don't know that. So I'm telling you. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.359 So, Jane, you know, it was interesting to we're listening 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.440 to the session when we were backstage with the Paradise 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:19.159 folks about climate storytelling. You're a storyteller. You have been 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.000 a storyteller for a long time. You're absolutely Academy Award 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:27.399 winning actor, filmmaker. How does being a creator, as the 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.920 kids say, how does that influence your activism? And how 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.440 does your activism influence the choices you make in terms 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.000 of roles that you take or think projects you decide 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:38.840 to pursue. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:48.680 Well, I've always wanted to support and fight for working women, 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.879 so I made nine to five. I don't like solar energy. 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:56.280 Solar energy, I mean nuclear energy. I don't care what 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:00.640 they tell you about these new small modular reacts. I've 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:11.280 done some research. It's not the solution to the climate crisis. Okay, okay, no, 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.680 it's not. Time is of the essence, and these things 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.240 the fastest take ten years. Most of them take twenty years, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.680 and guess who ends up paying for it us. Speaking 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:26.560 of you asked me what to do, vote for Climate Champions. 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:29.919 And the other thing is make people aware that in 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:34.600 that horrible bill that just passed is I think around 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:38.199 twenty billion dollars of our tax money goes to the 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.320 fossil fuel industry and the form of subsidies and tax 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:45.879 rebase and things like that. Most people don't know what's 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:49.160 in the bill. And when they know that their medicaid 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:51.440 is being taken away and their food stamps are being 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.960 taken away, and the prices are going up because of 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:57.639 the fossil fuel industry, and at the same time that 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.399 that's all being taken away from them, we're giving twenty 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.240 billion dollars to the people that are killing us. People 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:05.960 have to know this. If we can, we have to 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:10.800 raise the the heat under the under them by letting 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.360 people know what it is that he's done and he's 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:16.760 getting away with it. The other things speaking of not 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:18.680 getting we have to keep him from getting away with it. 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.920 We have to protest all the time, constantly, all kinds 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:30.040 of protests, including civil disobedience. You know, I don't know 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:33.960 about you but every time I see a documentary about 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.920 the civil rights movement, for example, or anti apartheid, where 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.679 people are really being you know, the batons and the 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.840 dogs and the hoses, and and I, you know, I 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:48.080 ask myself, would I be brave enough? Could I have 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:52.639 stood up to that? And I've realized I don't have 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:56.119 to ask anymore. This is it. This is our documentary moment. 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:03.520 And so I'm sure you have people, young people whose 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:06.959 lives you know, you'll die and they'll go on and 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:08.639 what it's going to be like, so you want to 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:12.600 do everything. You cancel, they'll know that you tried, that 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:15.240 you fought for them and for their future. This is 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:19.040 our documentary moment. So we have to and we have 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:21.320 to talk about what's in the bill. We have to 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.359 let people know. We have to make them mad. We 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:26.720 have to call their attention to the fact that we're 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:28.840 being made to pay for the things that are making 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:32.680 us sick. I think that those are the those are 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.159 the things that we have to do, and if we 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.840 do them, we won't be depressed. Well that is at 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.240 least that's my and I know a lot of other 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.320 people too. Hope is a muscle, you know, it's like 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:49.240 the heart. It's different than than optimism, you know, and 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:53.200 optimism says everything's going to be fine and they don't 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:54.679 do anything to make it. 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:54.840 So. 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:59.679 Hope is the opposite. Hope is you're doing it, and 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.280 you're working hard, and you're giving it, you're all and 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.040 then and you don't you don't get depressed. 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:06.880 What keeps you the most hopeful? 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:12.000 My active and my team, see, I've I've been through 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:14.840 hell in terms of people hating me and being attacked 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:16.840 by the government and everything. I know what it feels 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:19.240 like it's going to get worse than that. Though. Nixon, 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:26.040 you know, he's like kindergarten coming here. I mean Nixon, 0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:30.199 you know, the first Earth Day was so huge that 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.040 Nixon created the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.560 and the EPA. That was Nixon, a Republican who did that. 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:41.159 So things are worse. What was it that you asked me? 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:44.920 What keeps you hopeful? What I do and the fact 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:49.000 that I'm not alone. I'm part of a movement. I 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:54.440 have a a board of of people here, and then 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:57.080 people believe it in what I'm doing. That keeps me. 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:00.400 Michael Bloomberg, I mean, I guess it's appropriate to talk 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:06.719 about him for a second. I've done some billionaires up 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:14.520 close in person, and they're different. You know, some people 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:16.600 are billionaires and give away a lot of money because 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:18.960 they want to go to heaven and they wanted to 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:23.440 be considered a good guy. And then there's Michael Bloomberg, 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.439 and it blows my mind. Here is this white male 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:33.320 billionaire in New York who understands that in this climate space, 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:36.960 what's strategic is listening to black women on the ground 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:46.760 in Louisiana. It's unbelievable what his petrochemical philanthropies has done 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:51.160 in the area which is the hotspot of the climate crisis, 0:23:51.359 --> 0:24:00.639 the Gulf of Mexico, a lot, Texas and Louisiana, where 0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:04.320 are shrimp and clams and oysters and fish come from. 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:06.679 Don't eat them if they come from there. I mean, 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.800 I've seen it up close and personal. They're killing people. 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:15.920 They're wiping out entire communities, like every house has somebody 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:20.040 in it that has cancer. And Michael Bloomberg is doing 0:24:20.080 --> 0:24:23.800 something about it. He is, really It just blows my mind. 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:27.119 And another group that I think is represented here is 0:24:27.160 --> 0:24:30.880 Patagonia and hold Fast and their CEO, and they've been 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:34.199 very generous to the pack too, so that gives me 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:39.320 hope and being with you know, with with with a 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:44.119 great board. My pack has a small board of experts, 0:24:44.760 --> 0:24:47.800 and then just listening to the people that have talked 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:50.080 to you. There's so many people that are involved in this, 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:52.800 and I just don't think that we're gonna let it. 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:55.000 I don't think we're gonna let it go. 0:24:55.880 --> 0:24:58.600 I have no doubt you're gonna You're not letting it go. 0:24:59.680 --> 0:25:00.920 I think, well, that doesn't matter. 0:25:01.840 --> 0:25:03.679 Well, I think it matters a great deal. And I 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:05.879 know that I speak on behalf of the audience. We 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:09.160 can pick those up on the way out. We really 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:11.879 appreciate your time, Jane, thank you so much for coming up. 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:17.240 But everybody, rise up, protest, make yourself heard, make people 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:20.800 understand what's in that bill. You know, let's just not 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:24.440 sit around talking about it. Let's really do it. Okay. 0:25:24.640 --> 0:25:26.679