Inspired by the Swedish student, Greta Thunberg, the student strikers and Naomi Klein’s new book “On Fire: The Burning Case for the Green New Deal,” I have decided to upend my life, leave my comfort zone and move to Washington, D.C. for four months to focus on climate change. As Greta said, “This is a crisis. We have to act like our house is on fire, because it is.”
So, every Friday I will host an action called — Fire Drill Friday — at 11am on the East Lawn of the Capitol Building, followed by a direct action. Each Friday we will focus on a different aspect of the climate crisis and what needs to be done moving forward. Join CODEPINK in Washington D.C. starting Friday, October 11 with special emphasis on November 8th to make the connection between war and climate change.
Here’s the deal: We are living at the last possible moment in human history when we can do something about climate change or fail to do so, thereby denying hundreds of millions of people a livable future. What’s often left out of this conversation is the fact that the Pentagon pollutes the atmosphere with greenhouse gases more than 140 countries combined. We can’t address climate change without taking on U.S. militarism — join CODEPINK in Washington D.C. starting with the kickoff on Friday October 11with special emphasis on November 8th, where war and militarism will be our focus.
As you may know, last year, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its regular report which stated in no uncertain terms that given the worsening disasters we’re already seeing and the additional warming that is already baked in because we didn’t act 30 years ago, we do not stand a chance at changing course in time without profound, systemic economic and social change in the next 11 years. If you can’t make it to Washington D.C. will you sign here to ask all presidential candidates to commit to cutting $350 billion from the Pentagon Budget and invest that money in a Green New Deal?
Yes, we’re facing a climate crisis, but we’re also facing an empathy crisis. It isn’t only earth’s life-support systems that are unraveling — so too is our social fabric.
Funding endless war is an existential threat to human life and one of the leading causes of climate change, which is why it’s urgent that we come together in Washington D.C. and make the connection between U.S. militarism and climate change.
This is a once-in-a-century opportunity to address the greatest threat to the future of our planet. I will be on the east lawn of the Capitol every single Friday, rain or shine, and would be honored to have you join me.
Yours in Loving Action,
Jane Fonda
