Author: Jane

I recently learned from an indigenous friend in Alberta, Canada, that Prime Minister Trudeau has approved 2 new pipeline expansions. One would bring the most polluting tar sands oil to the harbors of British Columbia and the other would bring the oil to Wisconsin thus violating Canada’s commitment to Indigenous rights and reconciliation and possibly dooming the Paris Climate Treaty Goals. Not only that, he is apparently considering joining with the U.S. President-Elect to reopen the Keystone XL pipeline. 99% of climate scientists agree that if there is any hope of meeting the Climate Treaty goals, there can be no new mining or drilling of fossil fuels. The reserves in already-operating oil and gas fields in Canada and in the U.S., even without coal, are sufficient to carry us through a transition period. I was shocked at this news because Trudeau had positioned himself as a climate hero while he was at the Paris Climate Summit and has committed his government to respecting First Nations people’s right to free, prior and informed consent to proposed projects that may affect the lands they customarily own or use. Over 120 First Nations and Tribes on both sides of the Canadian and U.S. border have signed a Treaty stating their official opposition to the tar sands expansion. I feel that what the Prime Minister has done has such far-reaching consequences that I decided to travel to Alberta and add my voice to those who oppose the pipeline expansion. Together with Barbara Williams, an actor/singer who was born in British Columbia and is half Sioux, I traveled to Fort McMurray in Alberta where the tar sands are. It was 40 degrees below zero when we flew over the tar sands in a helicopter with Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, and Melina Laboucan Massimo, Greenpeace Canada organizer and member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation. Barbara Williams, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. The forests and skin of the earth has been stripped away as far as the eye can see. Snow covered much of the tailing ponds and pits but steam from the processes and from the ponds was everywhere. There was also ample evidence of the devastating fire that swept Ft McMurray last year, itself the result of the increasingly frequent perfect storms that result when natural El Ninos are supercharged by climate change. Many workers were laid off after the fire in large part because of the drop in the price of oil. I lunched with 89-year-old Violet Cheecham Clarke and her daughters. Violet, a Woodlands Cree, told me how she grew up on these lands, drinking water from the Athabasca River, living off the fish and game that she and her family hunted. Now the river is falling, sand bars threaten the boats and the water is undrinkable. Its fish often have tumors now as do the moose and other animals they rely on. Now her people must depend on water delivered to them in plastic bottles. So much of the land has been contaminated or clear cut that the Indigenous people can no longer pick berries and herbs or find healthy food. I know people who have family and friends that have worked in the tar sands and they, too, have had health consequences. Even if we start right now to do everything needed to made a managed and compassionate transition to a low-carbon economy, climate change that we are already experiencing will greatly worsen causing economic turmoil, a far greater refugee crisis, more forest fires like the one last year that brought such heart-breaking devastation to Fort McMurray and to Northern California, longer droughts, more storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, the disappearance of entire island nations and coastal cities and the extinction of numerous animal and plants species. And that’s a best-case scenario. For centuries, first Nations peoples have been telling non-indigenous people how to live in relationship to the land rather than to see the land and its natural resources as commodities to be bought and sold and used up. We did not listen and now we are reaping what we have sown. We met with Cecilia Fitzpatrick, an indigenous Dene woman from Fort McKay First Nation which is completely surrounded by the tar sands. Cecilia opposes the tar sands expansion. She ran for tribal chief of and lost by one vote! The man who won the election supports the tar sands expansion and his name is constantly being used to create the impression that Indigenous people support it. His support of expansion should come as no surprise. Wherever people are in economic and social crisis they will do what’s necessary to survive. It’s not their fault that the only economic opportunities that exist in t territories are in the dirtiest industry. I’m told that unemployment among oil field workers is at 9% which is awful. This isn’t because of environmentalists, however. It’s because of the drop in oil prices and cutbacks. It was surreal sitting in Cecilia’s home which is being surrounded by the new community center, paid for by the oil companies. I get it. These and other sorely needed infrastructure not to mention well-paying jobs are hard to resist. In the non-oil-supporting tribal areas unemployment is 90%! Poor people are perfect targets for the extractors (among others) and pitting us against each other is their strategy. We all share the same enemy and unity is our best weapon. They’re afraid of that. What’s so sad is that there is another way. It requires wartime-type commitments of policies and resources from developed Nations like the U.S., Canada, China, etc. It requires ending the huge subsidies our governments give to the fossil fuel industries (Funny how those wealthy oil guys hate welfare for others yet they themselves depend on massive petrol welfare that taxpayers subsidize) and investing them in renewable sources, housing, transportation, renewables, healthcare, social assistance and education services – the very low-carbon sectors that knit our society together, that create social fabric rather than environmental catastrophe – these industries create dozens or even hundreds of times more jobs than oil and gas. We need the kind of commitment JFK made when he was determined to put a man on the moon. A managed transition to a low-carbon economy that protects oil, gas and coal workers and their families and communities is absolutely possible. Denmark, Nicaragua and Germany are doing it. Germany already employs over 350,000 people in their renewable energy sector. Ontario, Canada, created 35,000 jobs in just a few years like this. The Oil companies and the politicians they’ve bought off want us not to know this. They want us to believe the alternatives are far in the future. Wrong. It’s tragic that our president elect doesn’t seem ready to commit to this job-intensive transition. That’s how he could fulfill his promise of jobs to the folks in the rust belt. He could demand policies that would train the laid off and underpaid workers in building renewables and mass transit projects, weatherizing, etc and turn the rust belt into the green belt Here I am marching to stop DAPL with my Grandchildren.   YOU CAN HELP BY DONATING TO THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES   In Canada (what happens there impacts all of us) Visit:  www.pull-together.ca. Join regular people, business leaders and community groups who standing with First Nations to fund their legal cases. Whatever you give will be matched up to $500,000 and used to help First Nations stop the new tar sands expansion.   Visit:  WWW.INDIGENOUSCLIMATEACTION.COM To help the organization that works on Climate Change in Canada by spreading awareness, increasing organizing capacity and training and implements renewable energy projects in Indigenous communities     In the U.S.   Visit: http://standwithstandingrock.net/donate/ Help the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stop the North Dakota Pipeline: DONATE ONLINE: http://standwithstandingrock.net/donate/ CHECKS PAYABLE TO:  Standing Rock Sioux Tribe – Donations #1 N. Standing Rock Avenue Fort Yates, ND 58538 CROWDRISE:  http://standwithstandingrock.net/donate/ Donations will be used for legal, sanitary and emergency purposes! Please do not mail physical goods to the Standing Rock Mailing Address!

On my 79th birthday, Winter Solstice, I participated in a big action in Hollywood with many Indigenous leaders, friends, family and celebs to call attention to the #DefundDAPL movement, suggesting that people pull their money out of banks that have loaned to the North Dakota Pipeline. I withdrew money from Wells Fargo and sent the letter below to Tim Sloan, CEO of Wells Fargo. You can see Lily Tomlin on the far right, Catherine Keener on the far left, Frances Fisher, Delores Huerta and Viva Vadim, my granddaughter in the middle. I’m a little behind. It was very colorful with drummers, dancers, prayers and youth from an LA-based Indigenous school who sang happy birthday to me in their native language. Then we briefly closed Sunset Blvd with a native “circle dance.” It was the best birthday ever. ***Letter from Jane Fonda to Wells Fargo Dec. 21st, 2016 Mr. Timothy Sloan CEO Wells Fargo 420 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94104 Dear Mr. Sloan, As a customer of your bank, I reject the notion of my money helping to support your investment in the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), an inherently dangerous and unjust oil pipeline that threatens air and water quality in many states and violates sacred lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The fact that Wells Fargo has invested money in DAPL indicates corporate irresponsibility and hypocrisy. As a signatory to the Equator Principles, how can Wells Fargo be associated with these companies? Even minimal due diligence shows that Energy Transfer Partners and Sonoco, the companies that own and operate the pipeline, have the worst oil spill records in the United States. How can I trust a bank that was not aware of this or the National Lawyers Guild’s list of lawsuits against ETP for contaminating groundwater in the states of New Jersey, Vermont, Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the City of Breau Bridge Louisiana; in addition to citations for releases of hazardous materials in Ohio, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri Texas, Pennsylvania and Hawaii? DAPL already crosses a vast stretch of land and is asking to dig beneath the Missouri River. Yet, shockingly, despite its horrific record of contaminations, DAPL has not been required to do a full Environmental Impact Statement. And why is your bank sinking so much money into maximizing the amounts of oil and gas that can be brought to the surface and burned at a time when climate science is clear: we must maximize what we keep in the ground. Oil prices have dropped and production from the Bakken Fields has declined a stunning 25% from its peak in 2014. This means that, on top of everything else, DAPL is redundant –there is no economic rationale to increase the regional pipeline capacity. Harm to Native lands, culture and rights have already occurred. DAPL personnel deliberately desecrated documented burial grounds, committed gross violations of Indigenous Peoples rights; pose a major threat to the Tribes water source, and stands in violation of the international standards of Indigenous Peoples right to Free Prior Informed consent. I ask that Wells Fargo withdraw its financial support of DAPL until a full scale environmental Impact Statement is completed and the outstanding issues with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are resolved to the Tribe’s full satisfaction. Until then, I am withdrawing my money from your bank. Sincerely Jane Fonda

I have been almost paralyzed since the election. For a week I kept thinking it was all a bad dream. I have spent enormous amounts of time reading what everyone has posted, what responsible newspapers like the New York Times and The Guardian were saying. Some I found too depressing. Some I found too divisive. While the finger pointing “who is to blame” seems to dominate, the painful new reality of what life under a Trump Administration is likely to bring especially to those among us who are most at risk is staggering. I was actually hopeful for a minute that, perhaps naively so, that if approached right, he was persuadable. But now that I’m seeing his cabinet picks I have lost hope. This soon-to-be-Oil/corporate Administration, is also anti labor, anti civil rights, and if confirmed will be the least diverse cabinet of the last three Administrations. I have been in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York and North Dakota and I have listened a lot. I’m still listening, and reading, because in a country as large and diverse as ours, I understand that there are a variety of reasons why the democrats lost: Russian hacking, we needed more on-the-ground canvassing, better protections of voting rights, more aggressive rejection of false equivalencies, and fake news, the list goes on. But it is perhaps worth remembering that Hillary Clinton is approaching a 3 million popular vote margin, and Trumps electoral college win, ranks 46th out of 58 contests. Perhaps there is much Democrats can learn from and build on there. We shouldn’t lump all Trump voters together or demonize them. We need to go to the grassroots and listen, learn and educate on the issues. One organization that’s doing that is WORKING AMERICA. We know that Trump can’t fulfill his promises. So we know there’ll be millions who’ll be sorely disappointed in time and begin to feel buyer’s remorse. We have to be there for them with alternative solutions such a the job-intensive clean energy sectors. We can’t allow the 1% to try and divide us for their own gains—or keep many people poor and disenfranchised, also for their own gain. While I’ve been mulling over next steps for an activist like me, I’ve also stayed on top of what’s happened at Standing Rock. You all know President Obama canceled the pipeline’s easement. Bravo for him and for the courageous Water Protectors. But we all knew this wasn’t over. DAPL is refusing to move or be rerouted and a freezing blizzard sent many water protectors and their veteran supporters home. I’ve been told that everyone is poised and ready to return if that is needed. But, in the meantime, there are serious financial issues confronting Energy Partners Transfer, the company that has developed the pipeline this far (they’ve recently been bought by Sonoco). The company negotiated its contracts with banks and shipping companies, etc in 2014 when the situation in the Bakken oil fields was very different. The price of oil has dropped and there is a glut of pipelines up there. Unless there is a drastic improvement in the oil production there and a rise of the price of oil in general (highly unlikely) DAPL is totally superfluous. Existing pipelines and refineries could handle the region’s output. DAPL is trying to rush to completion largely to protect their favorable contract terms from 2014. But DAPL’s contracts stipulate that if certain terms and conditions aren’t met, their financiers have the opportunity to renegotiate their relationship to the pipeline or withdraw altogether. We don’t know what exactly the terms and conditions are but we think that one of them is that the pipeline be completed by January 1st. That won’t happen. It is also possible according to some sources that DAPL told the banks they had all the needed permits and easement which they didn’t. Then too, there’s the grotesque fact that this company has been rated as the WORST company among all the pipeline companies both in environmental and safety terms. According to the National Lawyers Guild, Energy Transfer Partners is being sued by 5 states for contaminating groundwater. Why isn’t the press covering this? And for those of us who have accounts in the banks that have loaned money to DAPL, we should ask the banks how they could have put our money into such a terrible investment. In order to speed up the demise of the superfluous, contaminating, greedy DAPL, a powerful new movement has arisen called DeFund DAPL. We are taking our money out of those banks. Please go to this link so see the names of the compromised banks and how to take your funds out as I am doing. http://www.defunddapl.org/

We were filming the other week in my character Addie’s beautiful garden and this very glammed up, dramatic looking woman appeared in 4 inch platform boots. (She’s Diane, the lady on the left with the hat.) Diane didn’t look like she was local so I asked her who she was. Dig this: She is an insect, snake and reptile wrangler for movies and TV shows! If a film needs a tarantula or a baby preying mantis she’s the one the production would hire. In our case, it was butterflies we needed and she brought them and fed them sugar water to keep them hanging around. Turns out sugar water makes butterflies horny. That’s why these two on her well manicured hand were copulating. In the first photo, the woman to my right is Sandy Buck with the Humane Association Film & TV Unit who was there to make sure the butterflies were properly treated. I don’t know about you, but I found this surprising, wonderful and reassuring. Two highly qualified people on set to protect butterflies! Who knew. I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging every week. I intended to but I’ve been working every day and I’m too tired at night and I’ve had to travel the last 2 weekends. 2 weeks ago I had to go to L.A., last Thursday I flew to Atlanta for my non-profit, The Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential’s annual fundraiser. It was fun. I saw a lot of old friends and we raised a lot of money. I brought David de Leon (make=up artist extraordinaire) and Jonathan Hanousek (hairstylist extraordinaire) with me. Aren’t they handsome? My granddaughter, Viva, came to the event and here we are on the red carpet together. It was a very successful event but I had to red-eye back to Colorado Springs to film the next morning…brain dead. Then I had to go to L.A. Again Saturday for the Carousel Ball, an amazing multi-pronged effort to cure juvenile diabetes founded many years ago by Marvin and Barbara Davis. Barbara is a friend and is dogged in her commitment to making a difference. She was kind enough to honor me that night. Here I am on the red carpet in a Zuhair Murad gown. In between then and when I last posted, we’ve filmed in the Great Plains where the story takes place. Kent Haruf, the author of the novel this film is based on, said about the Great Plains, “they’re not pretty. But they’re beautiful if you know how to look.” I agree. We also filmed some scenes in the Rockies where we camped and fished. While I was away, Tulea went food shopping with Debi, my assistant who is a true dog-lover, I’ve been asked by Netflix to not post any more photos of me and Bob as we appear in the film. But I’m sure it’s ok to show you this one of me and Judy Greer in a bathroom in the bowling alley in Florence, CO, where we’ve been filming for a week. Judy plays Bob’s daughter. I’d never worked with her before and she knocked my socks off. Bob’s too. She is truly talented and we pledged to be friends. Who says you can’t make new friends late in life? I’ve been staying in a lovely Bed & Breakfast in Florence called Florence Rose, built in 1886 and purchased online by the current owners from New Jersey. This is how Tulea skipped down the path to the B&B. Yes, she skips. So that’s my snapshot view of the last weeks. I am having a wonderful time. The people here have been so friendly and lovely to us and they’ve made terrific extras! 3 more weeks to go. I wish I could drag it out for months. We shot a scene at a parade today with me kissing RR right out in broad daylight! What’s not to be happy about. Love that man. He’s about as perfect as they come, inside and out.

I meant to post this over the weekend but ran out of time. The only thing that makes me want to be very young again is that back then, times lasted longer. Anyway, it was a good week. We’re shooting as much as possible in chronological sequence which is good because we, or rather I should just speak for myself,I could get all the nerves out of the way in the scenes where Addie, my character, is truly nervous. The first day, I went to get in the car to go to work and this deer was grazing right outside my door. Then it hid in the shrubs to ruminate. I brought my special “waiting around” chair that Lily gave me as a wrap gift at the end of shooting 3rd season of “Grace & Frankie.” I love it. It has a desk top that folds away On our Netflix show, Lily got dibs on the “Crow’s Nest,” the private little room with a door at the end of the hair and makeup trailer and up a few steps. This time, I got it!! Here I am showing it off with David and Jonathan goofing off…as per! There are always a group of really nice local people who come to watch the filming. These are Addie’s neighbors so I enjoy talking to them, getting a feel of who my neighborhood is populated with One day the woman showed up who snuck me onto Ft Carson in the trunk of her car in 1970 so I could distribute newspapers published by G.I.s who were part of the G.I. Movement around the country. Here’s Addie in her garden with Jonathan Here Bob and I are with Cathy Haruf, widow of Kent Haruf, the novelist who wrote “Our Souls At Night” on which the movie is based. She and I spent several days together last July in Yuma, CO. so I could get a sense of a really small town vibe. (Pop 2000) On Friday, we filmed at night and it was cold. I got home at 3am. Here I am in the “warming tent” that was set up for me with a large heater and heated blanket. Katharine Hepburn taught me when we were about to shoot a night scene in the cold lake of “On Golden Pond” that it was important to get warm to your core first. So here I am, taking her advice. ..as per. Saturday night, my team and I went to dinner and a movie at this very cool local movie theatre: Tinseltown. We saw “Sausage Party” which was too gross for my taste.

This is what I see from the window where I’m writing at the dining table. In other words, this is a pretty gorgeous place. I don’t play golf but it’s a beautiful course and Tulea and I enjoy walking the perimeter which takes about an hour. It’s nestled right at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Up on a sharp, steep peak is a monument with a bell in it that tolls the hours and half hours. It’s a monument honoring Will Rogers. Besides the gold course, this place has a perfect gym with everything I like. Yesterday I took a private Pilates class which I’m going to do again next weekend along with Tai Chi. I’ve been working out a lot when I’m not rehearsing and I feel better than ever. We’ve spent this last week rehearsing and it has been both helpful and fun. It’s a dream come true to be back together with Robert Redford. I didn’t take a picture, but we went out to dinner last Friday and had such a good time catching up, talking about all the things that interest us the most. We have so many things in common, especially a deep curiosity about life. We both have done a lot of exploring in our lives; we both knew Los Angeles before there were freeways and smog and congestion. The list goes on and on. Here’s a picture of me with our director, Ritesh Batra and Iain Armitage, who plays my Grandson. I’m going to be spoiled! Whereas, on “Grace and Frankie,” Lily and I share a motorhome, 1/2 each. On “Our Souls at Night,” I have a gigantic motorhome all to myself complete with full kitchen, modern living area and bedroom. I’ll have to try not to get too used to it. Last night I took my “team” to see “The Light between Oceans” starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. We all loved it. The 2 stars are superb, the photography splendid. Then we went to dinner. Here we all are, Debi, Abby, David standing behind us, me and Jonathan. So that’s it for now. I’ll try to blog every week.

I’m trying not to feel guilty for not blogging in so long. But guilt gets you nowhere. Right? There are multiple reasons why I haven’t written more. For one thing, we were working like whirling dervishes on season 3 of Grace and Frankie. I haven’t seen everything cut together but my sense is, from what I have seen edited and what others have told me, it’s pretty darn good. The four months it takes to do 13 episodes flew by faster than any of us could’ve imagined. On the last day (just 10 days ago) we just looked at each other and all agreed that it felt like we’d only been shooting for a couple of weeks. I guess that means we were having fun. I can’t give anything away as to plot or new characters but it’s all good. And I think the last scene of the last episode will be very moving for people who are fans of the show. And again, I have to say how surprised I am, we all are, with the wide diversity of age and gender reflected in our fan base. I think it’s an easy show to like; it doesn’t cause anxiety; it’s easy on the eye; and it gives people hope. I just want to say that I feel so deeply blessed to be in such a series that is making people feel good and giving hope and giving a steady job to an old broad…actually, two old broad’s. Lily would want to be included. We had a wrap party at Marta Kauffman’s house last Saturday. She is the co-creator of the series and the main honcho. The party was a blast. I danced all night, including with Marta, and didn’t understand why my tailbone was so sore the next day. My glam team, David and Jonathan, had to tell me the next morning that I had fallen while dancing with Marta and must’ve hit my tailbone. But it’s all well now. Nothing but good memories. I haven’t a clue when Season 3 will air. I do get that fans are frustrated by the long wait. I get frustrated waiting for Fargo and Homeland and Empire. The reason my glam team were with me the day after the wrap party is because we were developing the look of the character I’m playing starting in 10 days, in Colorado with Robert Redford. It’s called “Our Souls at Night” based on a beautiful novel by Kent Haruf. This movie is another reason I haven’t been blogging. When there was time off from Grace & Frankie, I was working on Addie, my new character. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this movie. And not just because I’ll be working with Redford for the 4th film, but also I am excited about our young director, Ritesh Batra. His first film which he wrote as well as directed, was “Lunch Box” which garnered much attention at Cannes and won him a BAFTA Award. Also, I’m thrilled because ours is a beautiful, layered story that I believe many people will relate too. It takes place in a tiny town (pop. 2000) smack dab in the Great Plains in Colorado. During the Olympics, I had no time to write because I’d hurry home from work to watch the Olympics that Richard would have taped. I’ve attended 2 Olympics, in LA and in Atlanta but I’d never followed as closely as I did this time on TV. I was so rooting for them to go smoothly and be exciting. I wanted this to happen not just for the athletes sake but for Brazil’s sake. I’ve been to Rio. I’ve been in those favelas. And it was hard to imagine that Rio would be able to pull it off. But they sure did and in an inspiring way. I cried many many times as I watched, starting with the opening ceremony with all those countries represented and all those athletes from countries some of whom are fighting each other and they all looked so joyous and I couldn’t help thinking “ why can’t it always be like this? why do we have to have wars?” This is what the Olympics are all about but it has never come across so strongly as it did this time for me. And then of course there were all the great moments with the worlds greatest—Phelps, who brought himself back from the edge with such glorious triumphs. And Simone Biles and the whole Final Five team, so giggly and joyful and brilliant. And the south African runner who’s trainer is a gray-haired 72-year-old grandmother. What a gathering of people, not privileged in the western meaning of the word, many overcoming enormous obstacles, but all of them proving what dedication, sacrifice and courage can do to elevate someone with a natural gift to someone who puts everything on the line and surprises what the world believes is possible. What guts. What devotion. And with the whole world watching! Actors never have to accomplish this with no second chances, no “cut. Take 2”. And the final reason I haven’t written any blogs is because I’ve been dumbstruck by my country’s presidential primaries and now by it’s general election occurrences. I have to confess, under normal circumstances, I would feel some compassion for Donald Trump. I have known and loved men who had some of the same issues as he does. But unlike him, they chose, with time, to move towards the light. I feel certain that things occurred early in his life that caused him to be what he has become. But clearly, he’s made no effort to look at himself objectively and attempt to change/heal. And, as these are far from normal circumstances–the fate of the world is at stake and that is no exaggeration– I have moved past compassion to fear and anger. I will say no more because everything has been said and said and said. I think. So I will pray, and meditate that things are going to turn out all right and that Hillary will win. I will also pray that Democrats will take back the Senate and I’m doing all that I can to make that a reality from afar. Were I not making this movie in Colorado I’d be walking precincts, knocking on doors, not just for Hilary, but for all of the Dem women running for the Senate around the country. I’ve met them and they’re fierce and good. So that’s my catch up. I will try to blog from Colorado and send pictures when I can. In your heart, say “Break a leg, Jane.”