Jane Fonda condemns Joe Biden for failing to be ‘bold’ on climate change

Jane Fonda is demanding that the Biden administration act ‘boldly’ on climate change, warning that he’s not acting fast enough to avoid a cataclysmic crisis.

The Hollywood A lister and lifelong activist joined CNN on Tuesday a day after marching alongside indigenous protestors trying to stop the construction of the Enbridge line 3 pipeline.

She is calling on Joe Biden to end Trump’s pipeline projects, including halting construction on the Enbridge pipeline in Minnesota.

‘We need him to stop this and stop all of the pipelines that Trump okayed as a lame duck president, none of them are following the proper permit guideline,’ the 83-year-old Grace and Frankie star said.

The pipeline project was approved by Trump administration but President Biden has not taken a stand on the Enbridge line 3 pipeline. 

Fonda added she was ‘grateful’ to Biden for cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline permit and suspending oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but urged him to do more.

‘He’s done a lot of very good things. But not enough. Not bold enough. And not fast enough.’

‘We’re up against time,’ she added. ‘The scientists say we have less than nine years to cut our emissions in half. Line 3 is going in the absolute opposite direction, and the news every day is telling us, emissions are going up, not down. So we have to put our bodies on the line and do whatever we can to get our administration to call a halt to these permits.’ 

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83-year-old actress and activist Jane Fonda (pictured) is pressuring the Biden administration to be ‘bolder’ against the ‘existential crisis’ of climate change, starting with the Enbridge pipeline 

Fonda (right) joined CNN’s Brianna Keilar (left) on Tuesday a day after marching alongside indigenous protestors trying to stop the construction of the Enbridge line 3 pipeline

Fonda said she is encouraging protestors to use her method of ‘raising the ruckus’ to get the attention of the Biden administration in order to ‘create pressure’ for bolder action.

The oil pipeline is being built by Canadian-based energy infrastructure company Enbridge and would run from Canada across the wetlands and forests of northern Minnesota.

The company put out a statement following Monday’s protest condemning the ‘destruction’ done by demonstrators. 

‘The destruction done today by protesters is disheartening,’ the statement read. ‘We respect everyone’s right to peacefully and lawfully protest, but trespass, intimidation, and destruction are unacceptable.’

Enbridge also added that they employ native workers and are giving back to the community. 

‘Over 500 native workers are part of the Line 3 workforce,’ the statement said. ‘The project is already providing significant economic benefits for counties, small businesses, Native American communities, and union members—including creating 5,200 family-sustaining construction jobs, and millions of dollars in local spending and tax revenues.’

Fonda, a lifelong activist, stood alongside indigenous protestors trying to stop the construction of the Enbridge line 3 pipeline in Minnesota

Fonda said that Enbridge is using the familiar tactic of ‘buying off’ the community but that the climate crisis is bigger than any one community, it is a global issue. 

‘This is what they do all over the world,’ she scoffed. ‘The oil companies, they do their drilling and fracking in areas that are economically depressed and then they create child care centers and recreational parks and they build schools and they try to buy them off. But again, we are confronting an existential crisis. its not just the tribal nations here, its the globe. We have to stop all new oil development. We cannot allow this to happen.’

Protestors argue the pipeline could worsen climate change and risk spills in sensitive areas where Native Americans harvest wild rice, hunt, fish, gather medicinal plants, and claim treaty rights, the Associated Press reported. 

Fonda said the pipeline is pushing us closer to the ‘existential catastrophe’ of climate change and goes against the advise of scientist who say we have to cut emissions in half.   

‘It’s bringing very destructive tar sands under 200 bodies of pristine water, but look at the big picture — we are barreling toward a true catastrophe, an existential catastrophe, which is the climate crisis,’ she told the CNN host. ‘Climate scientists are universally telling us we have to cut our emissions in half and we can have absolutely no new development of fossil fuels. No new mining. No new fracking. No new drilling if we’re going to achieve this. 

Protestors are calling on the Biden administration to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to halt construction on the pipeline

Fonda said she is encouraging  protestors to use her method of ‘raising the ruckus’ to get the attention of the Biden administration in order to ‘create pressure’ for bolder action

‘We have to keep warming it 1.5 degrees celsius. No higher than that. We can’t even burn what we already develop, much less new, so this pipeline is threatening what science is saying. It’s threatening the climate crisis. This is going to affect everybody. Not just the tribal nations whose sovereign rights are being broken here in Minnesota but the whole world. We cannot afford this.’

Fonda specifically called for the Biden administration to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to halt construction on the pipeline and to re-examine Enbridge’s permit, which she says was ‘rushed though’  

While she was critical of the president she also acknowledged his small steps ‘He’s done a lot and were really grateful,’ but said the climate crisis is too severe to only do a few good things.

When asked if Biden’s lack of bold action has caused her to regret her vote and she quipped she much preferred pushing the current president than ‘fascist’ former president Trump. 

‘Well, it’s nice to be hopeful again, and it’s much better to push a moderate than to fight a fascist, right?’ Fonda said.

Jane was arrested by U.S. Capitol Officers in November 2020 during a ‘Fire Drill Fridays’ climate change protest in Washington D.C.

It was the fourth time she had been arrested for protesting climate change, with the Julia star admitting conditions inside her holding cell were ‘not good for old bones like mine on a metal slab’.