On Monday's Amanpour and Company on PBS, host Christiane Amanpour gave liberal actress Jane Fonda a forum to promote her alarmist views on global warming, picking up on the veteran political activist's recent push to hold a weekly protest outside the U.S. Capitol on the issue.
The liberal activist railed against the fossil fuel industry, fearmongered about there allegedly being only a decade left in which to cut carbon dioxide emissions, and complained that American "individualism" is a problem.
Amanpour portrayed the environment as endangered as she set up the segment and brought up Fonda's recent activism:
Another major struggle is going on around the world -- the one to save the environment. Spearheaded by the young, it is galvanizing the older generation, too, including some very famous names and activists. Jane Fonda was arrested in Washington on Friday in an act of civil disobedience during a climate change protest outside the U.S. Capitol.
The PBS host soon added:
Fonda, who is now in her eighties, announced that she would move to Washington, D.C., the heart of power and governance, to launch a series of weekly climate crisis protests. "Fire Drill Friday," she calls it. Inspired, in part, by the teenage activist, Greta Thunberg, who famously says, "I want you to act as if our house is on fire because it is."
After Amanpour began by asking the liberal activist when she decided to start doing the regular protests, Fonda tied in author Naomi Klein and global warming alarmist Greta Thunberg:
It was Labor Day weekend, and I was reading Naomi Klein's new book, called On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, and I was hearing Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate striker, and it really hit me how urgent this issue is, and that I wasn't doing enough, you know. I drive an electric car -- I recycle -- I've gotten rid of plastics -- but that's a good starting place. It's not a good finishing place. This is a collective crisis which requires collective action, and so I decided to use my celebrity to try to raise the sense of urgency, and I moved to Washington, and I'm going to get arrested every Friday.
A bit later, as if severe droughts, wildfires and other natural disasters had never happened until recently, Fonda hinted that human-caused global warming should be blamed, and fearmongered about the future:
FONDA: The Syrian crisis and the terrible situation that's happened there -- that war, I am told, began because of the terrible drought that happened there. I mean, there is so much going on in the world, and over it all is this ticking time bomb. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Crisis told us last year that we only have -- well, last year they told us 12 years, now it's 11 years. We have 11 years left to try to turn this fossil fuel disaster around so that we don't completely pass the tipping point and it becomes untenable -- untenable to govern, untenable to have a stable economy or any kind of human rights or anything. There's just going to be one disaster on top of the other.
Later in the segment, when host Amanpour finally offered a little pushback by bringing up those who might still hold a negative view of her because of her activism against the Vietnam War, or who may be resistant to changing their lives as she wishes, Fonda complained about American "individualism" as she responded:
FONDA: I know that they're out there, especially in America, land of individualism -- which is one of the problems, by the way -- don't like to hear things like we have to change a lot of what now exists in this country. But the whole middle of the country has been flooded -- California is on fire. This isn't something we're talking about might happen in the future. We're in the middle of it -- we're experiencing it right now.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Monday, October 14, Amanpour and Company on PBS:
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Another major struggle is going on around the world -- the one to save the environment. Spearheaded by the young, it is galvanizing the older generation, too, including some very famous names and activists. Jane Fonda was arrested in Washington on Friday in an act of civil disobedience during a climate change protest outside the U.S. Capitol.
(…)
AMANPOUR: Fonda, who is now in her eighties, announced that she would move to Washington, D.C., the heart of power and governance, to launch a series of weekly climate crisis protests. "Fire Drill Friday," she calls it. Inspired, in part, by the teenage activist, Greta Thunberg, who famously says, "I want you to act as if our house is on fire because it is."
(…)
JANE FONDA: It was Labor Day weekend, and I was reading Naomi Klein's new book, called On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, and I was hearing Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate striker, and it really hit me how urgent this issue is, and that I wasn't doing enough, you know. I drive an electric car -- I recycle -- I've gotten rid of plastics -- but that's a good starting place. It's not a good finishing place. This is a collective crisis which requires collective action, and so I decided to use my celebrity to try to raise the sense of urgency, and I moved to Washington, and I'm going to get arrested every Friday.
(…)
FONDA: The Syrian crisis and the terrible situation that's happened there -- that war, I am told, began because of the terrible drought that happened there. I mean, there is so much going on in the world, and over it all is this ticking time bomb. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Crisis told us last year that we only have -- well, last year they told us 12 years, now it's 11 years. We have 11 years left to try to turn this fossil fuel disaster around so that we don't completely pass the tipping point and it becomes untenable -- untenable to govern, untenable to have a stable economy or any kind of human rights or anything. There's just going to be one disaster on top of the other.
(…)
AMANPOUR: What can you say to people today who are getting their backs up, saying, "Don't you lecture me on how to live my life and change my lifestyle?"
FONDA: know that they're out there, especially in America, land of individualism -- which is one of the problems, by the way -- don't like to hear things like we have to change a lot of what now exists in this country. But the whole middle of the country has been flooded -- California is on fire. This isn't something we're talking about might happen in the future. We're in the middle of it -- we're experiencing it right now.
