What Can I Do? by Jane Fonda

What Can I Do? by Jane Fonda

Author:Jane Fonda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-09-07T16:00:00+00:00


The Rally

A large crowd gathered in Franklin Square the next day for the rally. There were representatives from almost every religious order and a Hollywood contingent as well. My friends Kyra Sedgwick, Maura Tierney, and Taylor Schilling had come to support and help me introduce the speakers. Oh, and the world-famous photographer Annie Leibovitz, decked out in a scruffy blue-knit cap, was there to photograph the event for Vogue, which was doing a story on me and Fire Drill Fridays. I know, odd bedfellows, but I thought it was cool that a magazine like Vogue wanted the story and Annie wanted to shoot it. I mean, if we need to go cultural . . .

Four days prior, the World Meteorological Organization released its state of the climate report to coincide with the opening of COP25, the gathering of world leaders in Madrid to focus on the climate crisis and the Paris Agreement. I began the rally by citing what the UN secretary-general said at the opening of the conference: “‘Climate change is no longer a long-term problem. We are confronted now with a global climate crisis. The point of no return is no longer over the horizon. It is in sight and hurtling toward us.’

“I wanted you to hear that quote because while we talk about specific aspects of the climate crisis here at Fire Drill Friday, it’s important that we keep the big picture in mind. We need to understand that 100 percent of the climate scientists agree on this. There aren’t two sides to the story. There’s one side, the science.”

There was an amazing roster of faith leaders at the rally: the Reverend Malik Saafir, a Methodist minister, scholar, and community organizer; Liz Butler, a vice president of Friends of the Earth; the Reverend Kaji S. Douša, a senior pastor of the Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City and co-chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition of faith leaders who work to stop deportations; and the Reverend Noel Anderson, the grassroots coordinator for the Church World Service.

It was inspiring to see them all agree on the collective nature of the climate crisis and the need to pull together, particularly around the issue of climate refugees. Many of the speakers reflected Reverend Anderson’s sense of urgency to call on policy makers and financial institutions to divest from detention centers and fossil fuel companies and switch to investing in “policies that reflect our values of justice, equity, compassion, and truth.”

Another speaker was Imam Saffet Catovic, GreenFaith’s senior Islamic adviser and a founding board member of the Global Muslim Climate Network.

“And I am an immigrant,” the imam said. “I am the son of an immigrant and the grandson of an immigrant. The grandson of immigrants on my mother’s side came through Ellis Island, and we know they did not have all their papers in order. Still America welcomed to her shores those who came from other nations, opening their hearts and hands because we know when immigrants are here, America does better.



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