Jane Fonda's 'Fire Drill Fridays' Continue to Spark Action on Climate Issues

In late 2019, only months before COVID-19 would shutter the world, Jane Fonda moved temporarily to Washington, D.C. to organize a series of weekly civil disobedience protests to urge Congress to pass meaningful climate legislation.

After she and a group of demonstrators blocked First Street near the intersection of East Capitol Street, she was promptly arrested. And again the next week and the week after that. Each time, Fonda returned with a larger group of citizen activists and celebrities ranging from Ted Danson to Martin Sheen to Susan Sarandon.

She called the initiative: Fire Drill Fridays.

“On the last Friday there were over 2,000 people and over 300 were arrested,” Fonda told Oceana. “We never intended to have very large crowds (though they grew bigger than we anticipated). Our goal was to raise awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis, which we succeeded at because of our willingness to engage in non-violent civil disobedience and risk arrest.”

Fonda, who organized the Fire Drill Fridays in partnership with Greenpeace, says she was inspired to take action from young activists like Greta Thunberg, as well as author Naomi Klein’s “On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal.” In an interview with USA TODAY, she said that despite making sustainable changes in her personal life, it wasn’t enough to stave off a feeling of helplessness. 

“I was slipping into despair before I went to D.C. I spent a year depressed about climate change and feeling I wasn’t doing enough,” she said. “Once I went to D.C. and began that action, my despondency disappeared.”

That Fonda would risk arrest, again and again, to bring attention to something she believes in is not surprising. Besides her Oscar-winning film career, the 83-year-old has a long history as an activist—protesting both the Iraq and Vietnam wars, backing land rights for Native Americans, and supporting civil rights and feminist causes. With the climate crisis, however, she’s latched onto something she knows will have a massive impact for generations to come. 

“I'm also acutely aware of the fact that I'm alive in the last generation that can determine whether there's a future for human beings or not,” she told Boston’s WBUR. “We're it. The decisions we make will determine millions of lives and a livable future.”

A shift from in-person to virtual builds momentum

When the pandemic struck and Fonda could no longer protest in-person (at this point having been arrested a total of five times), she went the way of the rest of the world and took her mission online. To build momentum, she began hosting weekly live interviews themed around various environmental topics (fracking, stopping fossil fuel handouts, ocean protections, etc.) with notables like climatologist Michael Mann, musical artist Demi Levato, and politicians from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) weighing in. Monthly movie nights with live Q&A discussions were also featured, with documentary films such as “Youth v. Gov” and “Chasing Cora” in the spotlight. 

In the months that followed she wrote a book about her journey, “What Can I Do?: My Path from Climate Despair to Action,” and also used her growing platform to help encourage people to vote in the 2020 Presidential election. 

“Since March 2020, our virtual Fire Drill Fridays have had 9 million viewers across all platforms,” she added to Oceana. “Thousands volunteered in the leadup to the election and made over 4 million calls and texts to climate voters who sat out the previous election. Again, most had never volunteered before.”

As she approaches the two-year mark of her call to action against climate change, Fonda has no intention of winding down her initiative or moving on to another cause. Venture over to her Fire Drill Fridays site and you’ll see fresh campaigns against fossil fuel subsidies, as well as an upcoming movie night, focused on the industrial food doc “Kiss the Ground.” 

For Fonda, there’s no better time to stand up and fight for a better tomorrow than right now. 

“I believe that we are lucky to be alive at this time,” she told Interview Magazine. “We are the generation that can ensure there will be a future for humankind. What a glorious responsibility. We must not shirk it.”