Well, one good thing about sheltering at home and everything being closed: I can do more social media, including blogs. I’m sitting at home trying to imagine what its like for gig economy workers, for all those who’ve been laid off and don’t know how they’ll make ends meet. Then I read about the enormous bail outs the Trump administration is trying to get passed—billions to the multi-billion dollar airlines industry. $3 billion for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. One existential crisis must not be used to fuel another! The companies that are poisoning the planet and its people and climate shouldn’t receive a penny! The Democrats are fighting mightily to stop the corporate bailouts, calling for things like immediate cash transfers of $2000 to all adults and $1000 to every child every month till the crisis is over as well as more aid to small businesses and not to huge corporations who will recover more easily and money for medical necessities, protective gear for health workers, and so much more. Just as I am writing this, news came that the Democrats have managed to halt this egregious bill –for now. . . All the American citizens who read my blog, please call your senator tomorrow and tell them you demand the coronavirus package support 1.) the direct cash assistance I just mentioned, 2.) no unaccountable corporate bailouts, 3.) stronger economic supports for families,4.) no bail out of the fossil fuel industry at all, 5.) vote by mail and 6.) immediate assistance to the healthcare workers and hospitals.
Not all quid pro quos are impeachable. For instance, if the aviation industry wants a bailout, make them agree to lower their carbon footprint and support their laid off workers…or no money. I signed a letter saying just that which is going to the Senate but you can tell your Senator. They’ll listen if so many of us call their phone lines go down so call 1-877-969-2590.
On the lighter side, a group of my neighbors and I gathered around a fountain at the end of our street, standing 6 feet or more apart, and had ‘quarantinis’ while Frank Sinatra songs wafted out one of their windows. We’re making its weekly routine. It helped.
Everyone seems to have a different reaction to the crisis and how it’s changed our lives. I can’t imagine how hard it is for professional women who work from home and now have several kids to deal with, homeschool, entertain. I wonder hopefully if the guys ho are also sequestered will start going some of that child care work themselves. I read that one husband who now is homeschooling said that after a few days, he thought teachers should earn CEO salaries. YES! Or think of the women with abusive husbands in ‘shelter at home’ situations. Some folks are going stir crazy. Some are in deep panic. I am in panic but it’s about the climate crisis which will be far more devastating but people find it hard to react to things that aren’t right there in front of them like COVID 19 is right now. Of course the climate crisis is ‘right there’ for a whole lot of people in the world.
My very smart daughter, Vanessa, says this: “The deforestation we cause in the name of cattle feed and grazing also lets loose a whole world of issues, namely exposure to viruses and other pathogens that normally would remain in the animal world. All the great pandemics, from AIDS to Ebola and SARS started in animals. Diseases that have been contained in the natural, wild areas of Earth are now let loose upon the human species who of course have no resistance or immunity. That’s just a land-use health impact: in terms of pandemics, the melting of permafrost caused by climate warming also releases plethora of pathogens that have not seen the light of day in millennia. People who don’t think climate is an issue might think differently next time there is a global flu pandemic.”
She’s right. over population, poverty and food insecurity, make people venture into forests and kill things like monkeys and bats and bring them to what are called ‘wet markets’ where people and other food are exposed to these disease-bearing animals. It’s not the animals fault. Lyme disease became a real problem in certain parts of this country when woods were cut down for development, weather got warmer and tick-bearing deer and other animals came into more frequent contact with humans. These things are interrelated
So let’s use this virus crisis as a teachable moment and find ways to fight against the lobbyists and politicians who stand up for corporations and the already rich instead of working people, families, nurses, small businesses and the climate. We need a strong Federal government that work for the people and that is prepared for crisis.
Till next time, stay safe, stay healthy and stay strong. Use this time productively. ❤️
Kara
Hi Jane. Thank you for your words of wisdom and bringing perspective to this all! And also to Vanessa for her words. As serious as the climate crisis and covid 19 are, I’m glad you and your neighbors were able to enjoy your quarantinis!! Thanks for the smile, it was needed for sure! Stay safe & keep the blogs coming!❤️
kate
Jane,
I wanted to say that’s the sweetest thing, the ‘social distance party’ with your neighbours. I love to hear the safe ways people are ‘coming together’ during this crisis.
I’ve had to say “goodbye” to my family and friends during this time, but it’s forced us to find new ways to communicate; my grandmother, who is the same age as you, just learnt how to facetime, now she won’t stop calling, it took a pandemic for her to use technology!
If you have the time, I would love to see you blog more regularly, like you used to. I really look forward to your next post. I don’t know if you’re aware but if you do Instagram Live, a feature you may be familiar with from Fire Drill Fridays, your followers can ask questions below and you can do a Q&A. It also encourages people to stay home and watch.
Much love,
Kate
P.S. Thank you for reply to my previous comment, I can’t express how much it meant.
Robin C.
Hi Jane, glad to hear you are doing well! I live in Ohio and have been working from home. I feel very fortunate that my employer allows this and that I’m still able to take home a paycheck during this very uncertain time for many. I will be calling my senators today to urge them to use the bailout to help working Americans rather than big corporations and CEOs. In Ohio, the stay-at-home order that was put into place is already affecting workers drastically. Many have already been laid off or furloughed without a paycheck. If this continues for several months, we are going to reach a new crisis of people being unable to make rent or mortgage payments. Nationwide, people are doing work that has been deemed essential and are being forced to work in very small spaces, definitely not abiding by the 6 feet apart rule. My father is included in this group. It worries me that he is still being forced to do this. These people are being taken advantage of and it’s completely unacceptable that their health is being put at risk (and—the health of their families) just so businesses can continue to rake in the money. Corporate greed continues to be a threat to the public health of all Americans and we can’t let that continue. Trump has shown even more so that he is incapable of leading us through a crisis, so I hope that this will remain in the minds of all Americans when choosing who to vote for in November. I am really making an effort to remain hopeful that this will all end soon. I really appreciate that you are continuing your work with FDF from home. I just watched the most recent teach-in that you posted and am looking forward to what else is coming. Since this crisis has begun, I have been unable to go out and work with other climate activists in my local chapter of Sunrise. I just heard that we have some alternative plans for Earth Day which makes me excited. If we can’t get out on the streets, we’re going to utilize the internet and make it all digital. I think it’s going to turn out great!
Happy to hear from you, Jane, and thank you for all you’re doing. I have enjoyed reading these recent blog posts. Stay safe out there! xo Robin
Aa-isha
Hi, Jane. Hope you are well. Besides the meeting at the fountain and your activism, how are you keeping yourself occupied? because we all know you like to keep busy, lol. Maybe I could steal some ideas from you because ever since my university closed, my days have been filled with a whole lot of nothing!
Jane
Aa-isha, I am finishing my book about Fire Drill Fridays, “What Can I Do? My Path From Climate Despair to Action.” It’s coming out in August. I love this book!!! So that takes time. I walk my dog. I workout and I read. I also do Zoom meetings about the bailout Trump’s trying o pass that’s a travesty. Busy. lol
Aa-isha
That’s so great to hear! I’m really excited for the new book. I actually ordered your biography (after reading the eBook version) and I was scheduled to pick it up tomorrow. However, i’m not sure if that will be possible now because it was just announced that our country is going into lockdown. Pretty scary stuff! But I take comfort in knowing that you’re out there fighting the good fight and taking down the pretty scary stuff that is currently occupying the White House.
All my love.
Chelsey
Hello Jane,
I have loved seeing all of your social media posts and blogs during these past few weeks. I’ve been doing your workouts for several months now, and they have been especially helpful during this period of social distancing. What kinds of workouts have you been doing lately, and what else have you been doing to stay positive and motivated?
-Chelsey
Jane
Chelsey, there’s too much to do not to stay positive. The Democrats did a great job putting far more money for workers, health care, nurses, small businesses etc into the first bailout bill. Made sure Trump couldn’t use the funds to bail out his hotels.I think our calls for people to call their senators was very helpful. The elected officials (Democrats) worked hard. They’re still working and Still a lot to do with bailout bills still to come. Have to prevent a corporate bailout, CEO raises, stock buy backs, etc and make sure that vast amount of money is largely put to proper use…helping average people and businesses that are most hurt.
I also work out every day…very slowly, carefully. x
Alexandra
Hi Jane,
We’re all struggling to adapt to this ever-changing world, but know that it’s been immensely helpful to have you provide rational, forward-thinking guidance—keep it coming whenever/however you can!
My heart aches for the world—here in New York the streets are deserted, beloved small businesses are shuttered, and the mood of uncertainty is overwhelming at times. But there are always bright spots even in the darkest times (beautiful blooms, helpful neighbors, etc.), and I’m trying to focus on (and add to) the good.
Before I shifted to writing/editing full time, I was a graphic designer; I went a bit rogue and made a Fire Drill Friday graphic (inspired by your actual hand/peace sign). I was humbled to see it reposted on both the FDF and your own personal Instagram accounts—a VERY minor thing, I know, compared to current issues, but I want to say thank you!
I’m always willing to help spread the FDF message in whatever way I can—this crisis may have derailed my cross-country road trip plans but it hasn’t dimmed my passion. If anything, I’m more motivated than ever, view this unexpected “downtime” as a gift, and, as you say, vow to remain productive.
Stay safe (and know I’m raising a quarantini in solidarity from the East Coast)!
xoxo
Alexandra
Jane
watch our first virtual Fire Drill Friday this Friday. 2om your time. With senator Ed Markey xxoo
Alexandra
Wouldn’t miss it! Registered, will share widely and looking forward to it. xoxo
Stacey
Hi Jane,
I hope you are keeping busy during this time.
I am really excited because I just got my absentee ballot info!
we vote April 7th in Wisconsin. its the first time I am voting without
my parents republican influence.I am voting for a climate change president.I am really excited because I finally feel like it’s my choice. You have been such a big influence in my life since you started firedrill Fridays!! thank you. I also preordered your book. I cant wait to read it!
stacey
Jane
Go Stacey!!!
Stacey
Jane,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. It meant the world! And also for the encouragement! I can’t wait to read your next blog! Also I can’t wait for this Friday! I already registered.
Helen
Thought this Henry Beston (Naturalist) quote might be loved by all.
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Candita
Jane, you must feel very proud in this difficult time is incredible to see everyone doing the Jane Fonda workouts, I am very proud to be your fan🙌🏼🙌🏼
Natalia
Hello Ms Fonda,
Despite how sad these days are about the pandemic, I´m so glad I can able to write to you. I´m Natalia, from Argentina (Sorry if I write badly in English). I write to you because I want to say THANK YOU, because you have improved my whole life. In a lot of ways.
As a school teacher myself, I use the articles in your blog about the CLIMATE CRISIS, (especially the section about teachings) to teach my students about the severity of the environmental crisis, the importance of taking care about the environment and the daily actions they can do in order to take care of our planet… and, as you say, to make the connection between the serious health crisis and the climate crisis.
I really admire you since 80´s, when I was a child and I heard about you and the workout videos. But since 2015, when I began to watch GRACE and FRANKIE, (The best series I´ve ever seen, -I saw the six seasons many, many times), I could know more and more about you… I began to read and watch videos and interviews online about your job as an actress, and about your politic activism, and your commitment to the environment and the list goes on…
I read your book PRIME TIME, (and I lost fear to getting older), actually I´m reading MY LIFE SO FAR, and I got WOMEN COMING ON AGE and your book of RECIPES FOR A HEALTHY LIVING. I recently bought online a lot of your films too, and I saw many of them, and Jane Fonda in five acts too…I´m so grateful to have been able to buy and watch them…
Even though I know you´re always very busy, I wish you would write me back, but if you can´t, I´ll understand you.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for SHARING us your knowledge and your work and life experiences, which teach and enrich us so much!!!
XX, Natalia.
Kara
Hi Jane!
Very much looking forward to tomorrow Fire Drill Friday which I will be attending with my 18 year old niece who is now home from college. She’s excited to embark on activism and together we have watched your teach-ins and have bonded over this scary time in our lives. We first discovered you as an actress and have bonded over your many wonderful films and Grace & Frankie (please tell Lily we all love her and hope to see/hear from her soon!) and now we are bonding over the climate crisis and what we can do together to make changes and have our voices heard. So thank you for being a strong activist and putting yourself out there. We admire you on so many levels and applaud your continuous efforts for our future!
-Kara
Nicoleta Cramaruc
Hi, Jane!
I’m so glad that you’re safe and sound and that you continue to work on your new book.
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been listening to different perspectives of specialists in microbiology and I’m a somehow skeptical about the real reason behind this entire nightmare called covid19. In Romania where I live, we already have the army on the street to keep the people inside.I feel that it’s more than it seems at first side and it’s related to the global economy, and MONEY, of course. I know that you’re not an expert in this particular area, but how do you feel about all this?
sending love,
Nicole
Jane
The virus is all too real. All the global pandemics of the last many decades came from human contacts with animals and insects that we aren’t used to being in contact with. AIDS, SARS, MERS, Ebola and now Covid-19. Climate change is behind it: melting Arctic ice sheet releasing millennia-old pathogens, deforestation, urbanization, warmer, shorter winters and earlier springs…All that is real and these pandemics will keep coming and perhaps get worse. But then you have right wing radical governments in growing numbers of countries (U.S., Brazil, Hungary, Russia, Australia, etc), taking advantage of these global crisis to cripple institutions that address public needs: environmental regulations, welfare, healthcare, public schools, privacy laws, etc. We must fight against this. Read “Democracy in Chains,” by Nancy MacLean. xx
Nicoleta Cramaruc
Thanks, Jane, for sharing your opinion about it.
I’m really aware that climate change is like a Pandora’s box that we humans opened it a longtime ago because we’ve thought we deserve everything no matter the price. And now we’re paying a high price: our own potential extinction.
And you’re right that many institutions that address public needs are affected. I’m really emotional and deeply touched by the elders’ situation, because at least in my country they are treated like they have no rights as humans beings anymore.
I will look for the book you’ve recommended to me,
be safe,
xxx
Gary McMahon
Smart, practical, grounded & fair points, all.
You must have a lot of patience, more than I, to take the time to spell out what should be self-evident to anyone with empathy and common sense. That’s what demoralises me, that these things have to be spelled out, implored, beseeched, against powerful forces that often don’t even deign to respond. And to think you’ve been on this trail since the Sixties amazes me. I know compliments don’t get the job done, but still, you’re quite a job of work. Your inner resources must be plugged into Monument Valley or something – – your Dad’s old stomping ground.
florence
Hi Jane
I hope you are well. what a pity that you no longer have Obama in the presidency !
I see that you too are horrible in the USA
in France the pandemic is regressing a little ! It’s very difficult
I read that Elton John is also of great financial help with $ 1 million to help and protect the most vulnerable. He is a very good person
and very generous.
I also saw a video which I think may interest you too.
I show you the link, I hope you can see it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAk7aX5hksU
Take good care of yourself. xxx
Jane
Thanks, Florence. Yes, I have seen this very good article cc
Jennifer Clarke
Dear Jane, stay safe. I fear we will lose many talented people during this terrible time. We are doing ok in Australia and especially Western Australia as we have locked down our state and regions within our state. Most of our infections have come from cruise ships and overseas travellers. Praying of everyone. X