Actor Jane Fonda has long been an activist for the environment, and she's calling for others to join in the "urgent" cause.
Despite being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year, the 85-year-old is still at the forefront of climate change action. Even at the premiere of her newest film, Book Club: The Next Chapter, Fonda was focused on the bigger issues at hand.
“It’s all hands on deck right now, it’s urgent, urgent and everyone has to join in right now,” she told PageSix.
The actor said she was shocked that more people are not protesting or taking action to combat climate change, noting that she does so for the sake of future generations.
“I don’t know how you could not [protest]," she said, adding, “I have grandchildren. I love animals, I love nature. We’re going to destroy it all if we don’t."
Fonda authored the book What Can I Do? The Path From Climate Despair to Action, as well as founded the Jane Fonda Climate PAC and the advocacy organization Fire Drill Fridays.
Fire Drill Fridays holds weekly protests at Capital Hill “to demand that action by our political leaders be taken to address the climate emergency we are in.” Fonda was arrested multiple times in 2019 at Fire Drill Friday protests across three consecutive weeks, before the group resorted to virtual action during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On one occasion, her Grace and Frankie co-stars Sam Waterston and Ted Danson were arrested alongside her. On another, she was detained with Rosanna Arquette and Catherine Keener.
Fonda began her long career as an activist during the Vietnam War by attending anti-war protests. She previously said she believes every American should use their voice to influence change.
“We’re all citizens of this country, and we all have to use whatever platform we have to speak to the values that we believe in and things that we feel must happen,” she said in November.
