Q&A with actress and activist Jane Fonda: Environmental issues, her childhood and the best

Perhaps the ultimate multi-hyphenate, Jane Fonda has held Academy Award-winning acting roles, launched successful workout videos, and then pivoted to championing the climate crisis —spending her 82nd birthday in jail after being arrested at a climate change protest.  In an exclusive with Annenberg Media, Fonda shared insights and advice from her six-decade-long career.

For many of us passionate about climate issues, this connection to nature and the Earth began during childhood. Have you always had a connection to the outdoors?

All my life. I grew up here in the 1930s, 40s and it wasn’t a happy time in my home. I took solace in nature so I was always outside. I got to know the nature of California on a first-name basis. In the summer I swam every day in the ocean. It made me happy. Walking in forests or climbing up 14,000 feet has always made me happy. Altitude is where I do best. I love to climb. I love to walk. I love to be in forests and high up in the mountains.

For many young people who care about environmental issues, but are not scientists or climate experts, there is a sense of helplessness. You are someone who’s shown the power of being a creative and being an activist. How would you recommend those starting their career to go about finding the connection between art and environmental justice?

It’s so important for artists to find a way to express their environmental angst and express the reality of what’s happening, whether that’s painting, sculpture, plays, movies, TV, music. It’s critical because people are moved and transformed, not by what you say to them, but how you make them feel. So, storytelling, images and things that surprise us when we don’t have our guard up can get through in a way that lecturing can’t always.

You have seen success in a plethora of fields, including acting, modeling, exercise programming and writing, but the throughline has been political activism. How do you know to stay truthful to yourself and your ideology while being successful in a career that doesn’t traditionally allow you to fight for those beliefs?

[Fonda laughs] We all have to earn a living. We all have to ply our trade, whatever it is and we can’t always imbue that work with our deepest values.

I was very bothered by the contradiction between the movies I was making and my growing need to be an activist. In the early 70s, I had a mentor who was a Black lawyer. He founded the League of Revolutionary Black Lawyers in Detroit, Michigan, where I was working with UAW [ United Automobile Workers] organizers to learn how to be an organizer.

I said to him, “I think I’m going to not be an actor anymore because it’s too hard for me when I’m working with people who are in a very different situation in the world.”

He said to me, “Fonda, the movement has a lot of organizers. We don’t have movie stars. We need movie stars. You should not only keep doing what you’re doing but you got to pay more attention, own it. Own your career, make it work for you as an activist.”

So I formed a company and I started making 9 to 5, Coming Home, The China Syndrome, and I enjoyed it a lot more that way. I was able to do that, at that point in my career. I had enough control to where I could make movies that expressed things that I wanted to say.

You have to find a style that will carry the message such that people can enjoy it, even if they don’t accept what you’re trying to say.

I’m 86 and a big part of me wants to wrap up the acting stuff and be an activist full-time. But, I’m well aware that since, for example, Grace and Frankie was so successful, that has really helped me as an activist. Having a platform is very helpful.

You’ve seen the world change, whether it’s in Hollywood, the climate crisis or political power, and it’s continuing to change. How have you seen these changes? And, if you look into the future what are your predictions?

I’m a hopeful person. One of the reasons I’m hopeful is because I’m an activist.

Maybe five or six years ago, I was really despondent about the climate situation.

I was doing stuff, but I knew I could do a lot more given that I have a platform. It was hard for me to even get out of bed, I was so depressed. Then I started Fire Drill Fridays and the minute I started my activism full-on, the depression lifted.

You’ve been able to reinvent yourself through a variety of successful careers. How do you know when it’s time for a change and while making sure you’re staying true to yourself?

I’m not sure that this answers it, but I just want to say that I’m gonna say this. We’re in a very dangerous time right now, as you know. I think that the most dangerous threat facing us is the climate crisis, because if we don’t confront it in time it’s going to be very hard to achieve democracy, equality, anything that we want in a stable society.

When I decided to devote myself to the climate crisis issue full-time, it was to try to alert people of what’s coming. We have about six years to reduce our fossil fuel emissions.

Historically, all over the world, problems of the kind that we’re facing right now can be overcome if enough people do something about it. That’s why protests, civil disobedience, nonviolent, can change history. It’s a question of people’s power. I know that sounds rhetorical, and like a cliche, but it’s true.

While I have the opportunity, with every ounce of my being, I want to say to the young people that will read this: please vote and vote with climate in your heart. People are worried about climate, but they don’t bring that into the voting booth with them.

We have to confront this in order to have a livable future. It’s your future, I’ll be dead.

Finally, I have to ask, what is your favorite hike in L.A.?

Well, the one that I’ve done the most is Runyon Canyon. But, I like Will Rogers. I used to do that a lot.