-Our first guest tonight
is a legendary Academy Award- and Emmy-winning actress
and activist, whose new book, "What Can I Do?
My Path from Climate Despair to Action," is on sale today.
Please welcome back to the show Jane Fonda, everybody.
Jane, it is so lovely to see you again.
-Good to see you, Seth. I feel for you, man.
I can't even imagine what it must be like playing in --
-Well, we have made some progress,
because we spoke in April. I was in an attic then.
And so, while we're not fully back,
we are taking steps in the right direction.
-Well, you're great. -[ Laughs ]
Thank you. I want to ask,
one of the things you talk about in the book
is how your activism has changed.
Obviously, this is something that you have been,
for lack of a better word, active in for a long time.
Can you speak to how your activism in the '70s
versus your activism now is different?
-Well, as I say in the beginning of the book,
in the acknowledgment, you know, when I was young,
I thought that activism was a -- was a sprint.
You know, if I just go fast enough,
everything can be fixed really quick.
And then, I got a little older, and I realized that activism
is more like a marathon,
and I slowed down and learned to pace myself.
But now that I'm seriously old,
I realize that it's really a relay.
It's a relay race.
You pass the baton, and that's kind of what I did
this last fall and winter with Fire Drill Fridays,
which is what this book is about,
is what I did last year and what I'm doing now virtually.
There were a lot of very, very young people
who were complaining there weren't enough old people
involved in the actions
to raise awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis.
So I said, "Well, I'm gonna answer the call."
An aging movie star. I'll bop in there,
and I'm gonna try to make a difference
and try to alert people to what's happening."
But it was the young people that really made the difference
and woke me and a lot of other people up.
-It must be rewarding how people have continued to engage
with Fire Drill Fridays.
Even it's become a virtual event.
Has that been something that's been exciting to you, as well?
-It's been unbelievable.
We've been doing it now for six months.
And last Friday, we had 750,000 people
following us across all platforms.
July and August, we had about 3.5 million people.
And tens of thousands have signed up and are volunteering
to register voters and get people to vote,
get out the vote,
Spanish-speaking volunteers work with the Latinx community.
And it's just amazing what's happening.
-I know you obviously would rather be doing it
in person than virtually.
I guess one of the up sides of doing it virtually
is you have not been arrested
for civil disobedience in a while,
because you were really piling up the arrests in recent months.
I guess, is it five times
that you were arrested at Fire Drill Fridays?
Is that right? -Yes, it is, yeah.
-And you were arrested, as well, in the '70s,
but that was a whole -- a different story
compared to what's happened in sort of recent days.
-Yes. Back in the '70s, Richard Nixon was president,
and it was not a voluntary arrest.
I flew from Canada into Cleveland, Ohio,
and they arrested me at the border
and took all my vitamin pills and said they were drugs
and took all my books and papers and address books.
And the guy -- the arresting officer told me
he was working from orders from the White House.
So that was -- that was not so cool.
This time, you know, it's different,
engaging in civil disobedience.
It's not where you start as an activist,
but for 40 years, we've been petitioning
and protesting and marching and writing and lobbying,
and our voices haven't been heard.
And, so, the next step is civil disobedience.
And history has shown that civil disobedience
is what changes history.
So that's what we did, and it got a lot of attention.
And that's what we were trying to do.
There are so many people in this country
who know there's a climate crisis
and know that it's caused by humans,
and they want to do something but they don't know what.
13 million of them said they would do civil disobedience,
but nobody's asked. So, we're asking.
-That's one of the many steps you lay out to people
in the form of solutions.
Because, obviously, we are told often
what a crisis we're in with the climate.
Was it important for you in your book to both point out
what is going wrong and also ways to correct it?
Sort of actionable items for --
if that's the best way to describe it.
-Absolutely.
I mean, if I was asking, before I went to D.C.,
"What can I do?", I knew that millions of other people
are wanting to know, "What can I do?"
So, I wanted this book to be an answer to them.
And each chapter, which focuses on a different aspect
of the climate crisis -- oceans, forests, jobs,
migration, women, et cetera --
each chapter ends with a section called "What can I do?",
and it gives people very tangible things
that they can do.
And at the top of the list is always vote.
Make a plan, vote early, do it. -[ Laughs ]
That's a good message, and I hope everybody hears it.
I also want to point out you had a very nice reunion
with your co-stars from the film "Book Club."
You did a virtual book club where you and Candice Bergen
and Mary Steenburgen talked about the book.
Was that -- Was it enjoyable to see familiar faces?
-Oh, I love them so much.
That's one of the great things about being an actor.
Well, you meet new people all the time.
-Yes. -You get to know these people
that are so interesting and fun.
And, you know, when you're older, though,
you have to make a real effort to stay in touch.
So, last Friday was like a reunion of Mary and Candy.
Diane was on her way to Arizona
to buy another adobe house to change it up.
She's so good at that. -[ Laughs ]
Oh, my God. That Diane and her adobe houses.
When will it stop? [ Both laugh ]
-I know, I know. But we are --
You know, there are over
5 million book clubs in the United States.
Huge number of book clubs, all women, mostly women.
And, so, what we are saying to them is, "If you give me
a good reason why I should show up to your book club,
I'll -- I'll show up." I mean, it's virtual.
But I'll send you my book, and I'll sign it,
and then, we'll have a discussion.
-Well, that's a lovely offer. And I should note, as well,
that the proceeds of this book,
100% of them, are going to Green Peace.
-Correct. -Thank you for
your generosity with that.
It's always such a pleasure to see you, Jane.
Keep up the great work.
-Thanks a lot, Seth. Good to see you.
Glad you're back on stage. -Thank you so much.