Activist actress Jane Fonda touted the new musical she will be in, “Dear Everything,” during a Monday interview as a timely “Earth opera” to spread environmentalism to a new generation.
Fonda has a long history of political activism, most notably her controversial actions amid her opposition to the Vietnam War. Her posing on a Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun led her to being nicknamed “Hanoi Jane” and many accused her of treason.
More recently, she spoke about her role in the one-night environmentalist musical “Dear Everything” taking place on Earth Day. She summarized that the musical is about a small, struggling American town that erupts in conflict when adults try to sell their local forest to a timber company, and a young woman galvanizes her fellow youths to stop it.
“It has been touring the country, and everywhere it goes there’s a chorus,” she said. “It is called ‘the Earth choir’ in the play. It will be the local youth choir everywhere, and then money goes to local youth groups that are working on climate. Wednesday night we’re awarding five cash prizes to climate-focused youth groups.”
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A “Today” show host noted that Fonda has been an outspoken environmentalist for decades, asking where this stemmed from.
She responded by recalling that she grew up in Los Angeles, among nature, to the point where, “the birds, the bobcats, the mountain lions, the coyotes, they were my friends, and the trees and the tumbleweeds.”
She went on to claim that the environment is being ravaged by the burning of fossil fuels, saying, “It just breaks my heart and I have children and grandchildren. So, I want to fight for their future, and, you know, I just feel, who are we in our hubris to allow the natural world to be destroyed?”
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The environmentalist actress went on to praise the name of the play, “Dear Everything,” because it emphasizes that humans are “part of nature,” warning, “And if we destroy it, we are destroying our own life support system. It is very — I have seen the play a bunch of times, and it always makes me cry with joy.”
Another aspect she said was key to the environmentalist struggle was embracing collective action, saying, “One person can’t do much,” but that “to really be effective we have to join with other people. This is a collective. This is, again, why I love this play. It shows how collective actions, community can — Minneapolis, the lessons from Minneapolis. You need community. You need love. You need people getting together.”
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“And so, individual people look for a local chapter of an organization,” she suggested. “Is there an oil pipeline that is trying to come through your town? Is there a toxic dump? Are they trying to put forever chemicals into your water? Take something like that and then organize with your neighbors to stop it.”
