Onward! Notes from Session 3 of TEDWomen 2020

For the culminating session of TEDWomen 2020, we looked in one direction: onward! Hosted by TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell and TEDx learning specialist Bianca DeJesus, the final session featured speakers and performers who shared wisdom on preparing for new challenges, turning fear into action and finding the way forward — even when the path isn’t clear.

Special appearance: Kirsty de Garis, organizer of TEDxSydney, and Safra Anver, organizer of TEDxColombo, introduced the final two TEDx speakers of the day.

The session in brief:

Gloria Steinem, feminist activist, writer

Big idea: Feminism is the radical yet essential idea that all human beings are equal. Now more than ever, unity and listening are the remedies to fear, discrimination and inequality.

Why? Feminism has been and always will be relevant and vital to all of humanity, says Gloria Steinem. Yet throughout history, the word — and its accompanying movement — have been misunderstood and criticized. Speaking on her lifelong legacy of feminist activism, Steinem shares how she’s fought for women’s rights and overcome her fears with the help of trusted friends and allies. She discusses the intersectionality of racism and sexism and how the fight against both has always been linked — and explains why unity is the key to overcoming them, especially in a world facing COVID-19. She urges future generations of women — or, as she calls them, “friends who haven’t been born yet” — to support each other and face their fears together. “Think of change as a tree,” she says. “You know it doesn’t grow from the top down, so we shouldn’t be waiting for somebody to tell us what to do. It grows from the bottom up. And we are the roots of change.”

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“AI is making amazing things possible for organizations and for people who otherwise would have been left behind,” says Jamila Gordon. She speaks at TEDWomen 2020 on November 12, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Jamila Gordon, AI advocate

Big idea: Artificial intelligence can break language, education and location barriers for disadvantaged people, giving them the opportunity to thrive. 

How? Born into a war-torn Somalia, Jamila Gordon has always considered herself to be lucky. When her family was separated and she was displaced in Kenya, Gordon’s journey eventually took her to Australia. There, she worked in a Japanese restaurant owned by a couple who showed her that amazing things are possible through hard work and perseverance. Now, she wants AI to do the same, at a massive scale, for disadvantaged people — giving them skills and tools to find work, be great at their jobs and do the work safely. In this way, Gordon believes software can open doors of opportunity for people who face cultural, social and economic barriers. For instance, Gordon’s platform, Lumachain, brings transparency to global supply chains, benefiting producers, enterprises and consumers, while also helping to end modern slavery.

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“There’s joy in being a leader, in having the opportunity to put your values into action,” says Julia Gillard, in conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at TEDWomen 2020 on November 12, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister of Nigeria

Big idea: The sexism that women leaders face shouldn’t overshadow or discourage others from stepping forward and making a positive impact.

Why? In conversation, Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala remark and reflect on their experiences in leadership — for better and worse. Their discussion runs the gamut of what it means to be a powerful woman in a sexist world: encountering unnecessary judgments based on appearance, enduring undue focus on personality over policy and facing criticism based solely on stereotypes. To be viewed as an acceptable leader, women must exude both strength and empathy, Okonjo-Iweala says. If they come across as too tough, they are viewed as hard and unlikeable. But if they seem too soft, they are seen to be lacking the backbone to lead. In fact, women leaders must also be thoughtful about how they portray their achievements to those who look up to and follow them. Emphasizing the positive makes a real difference to the power of role modeling, Gillard says. If the focus stays on the sexist and negative experiences, women may decide that being a leader isn’t for them. Conversely, if leaders shy away from speaking about their hardships, women and girls can be put off because they decide leadership is only for superwomen who never have any problems. It’s all about balance. For women looking to create space for themselves and others, Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala offer a list of six standout lessons to build solidarity: there’s no “right way” to be a woman leader, so be true to yourself; sit down with your trusted confidants and wargame how to deal with gendered moments; debunk gendered stereotypes; don’t wait for when you need help to support system changes that aid gender equality; network, but don’t shy away from taking up space in the world; and the last, but not least important: go for it!

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Kesha delivers a powerful performance of “Shadow” at TEDWomen 2020 on November 12, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Kesha, musician, actress, activist

“I can’t tell you how to not be afraid, but I can tell you that I’ve experienced how to not be defined by my fears,” says Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Kesha. She shares a bit about how she faced her fears while living in the limelight over the last decade and delivers a powerful performance of “Shadow,” a song about courageously choosing positivity even when others are throwing shade. “Get your shadow outta my sunshine / Outta my blue skies / Outta my good times,” she sings. She’s accompanied by Mary Lattimore on harp, Karina DePiano on piano, and Skyler Stonestreet and Kenna Ramsey on background vocals.

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JayaShri Maathaa shares a magical mantra to calm yourself during troubled times. She speaks at TEDWomen 2020 on November 12, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

JayaShri Maathaa, monk

Big idea: There is a simple mantra you can say to calm yourself during troubled times: “Thank you.”

Why? As the world brims with fear, doubt and anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic, JayaShri Maathaa finds that two magical words — “thank you” — fill her life with bliss and grace. How so? When you say “thank you,” you bring your attention inward and, over time, create a feeling of gratitude in your heart that can help you navigate life with peace and joy. For Maathaa, these two words are like music in her mind: they’re the first thing she thinks upon awakening, and the last thing she thinks before falling asleep. By planting these good thoughts in her mind and heart over the years, she now finds them blossoming into something beautiful — creating a harmony within herself and to the world around her. Want to give it a try?

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Megan McArthur shares lessons from her life and career as a NASA astronaut, in conversation with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell at TEDWomen 2020 on November 12, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)

Megan McArthur, NASA astronaut

Big idea: The day, life and mindset of an astronaut.

Tell us more: In conversation with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, astronaut Megan McArthur offers a glimpse into what it’s like when space becomes your world, but not your entire life. As a mother and wife (she’s married to fellow astronaut Bob Behnken), McArthur strikes a balance between the emotional outpouring of her husband’s spaceflight and training for her own launch, while supporting their son for his reality as an earthbound child. But when it comes to work, the focus becomes singular in hundreds of hours of preparation, which MaArthur emphasizes can be a mindset easily adjusted and applied to any professional role. Using her own example of tackling a new job, she reminds women that even if they come up against a situation they’ve never before encountered, they are ready and prepared from their life experience to take on that challenge, learn quickly and succeed. 

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Closing out the final session with a flourish, a guitarist sets in motion delicate yet strident chords that reflect both the warmth and momentum of Apiorkor Seyiram Ashong-Abbey‘s poetry — paired with footage of her masked, standing statuesque in a deserted quarantine courtyard, motionless yet liquid all at once. Far from a mere diatribe, this piece proposes not a revolution, but a re-establishment of the majesty, magic and power of the matriarch, and the hidden traditions that have quietly sustained women for millenia — and that will someday soon renew the world once more.

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A dangerous woman: Pat Mitchell speaks at TEDWomen 2019

Pat Mitchell speaks at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant, December 4-6, 2019, Palm Springs, California. Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED

Pat Mitchell has nothing left to prove and much less to lose. Now more than ever, she cares less about what others say, speaks her mind freely — and she’s angry, too. She’s become a dangerous woman, through and through.

Not dangerous, as in feared, but fearless; a force to be reckoned with.

On the TEDWoman stage, she invites all women, men and allies to join her in embracing the risks necessary to create a world where safety, respect and truth burn brighter than the darkness of our current times.

“This is all possible because we’re ready for this. We’re better prepared than any generation ever before us,” she says. “Better resourced, better connected, and in many parts of the world we’re living longer than ever.”

On the cusp of 77 years old, Mitchell would know what it takes to make possibilities reality from her own career blazing an award-winning trail across media and television. Before she launched TEDWomen, she produced and hosted breakthrough television for women, and presided over CNN Productions, PBS and the Paley Center for Media, taking risks all along the way.

“I became a risk-taker early in my life’s journey. I had to, or have my life defined by the limitations for girls growing up in the rural South, especially … with no money, influence or connections,” she says. “But what wasn’t limited was my curiosity about the world beyond my small town.”

She acknowledges her trajectory was colored with gendered advice — become blonde (she did), drop your voice (she tried), lower your necklines (she didn’t) — that sometimes made it difficult to strike a balance between her leadership and womanhood. But now, declaring her pride as a woman leader, activist, advocate and feminist, she couldn’t care less what others say.

Even further, Mitchell states that women shouldn’t wait to be empowered — they must wield the power they already hold. What’s needed are more opportunities to claim, use and share it; for those who’ve forged their paths to reach back and help change the nature of power by dismantling some of the barriers that remain for those who follow.

Iconic playwright George Bernard Shaw, she shares, once wrote: “Life is not a brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

Pat Mitchell believes we’re more than equipped to move our communities forward, together. We have the funds, the technology and the media platforms to elevate each other’s stories and ideas for a better livelihood, a better planet.

And for Mitchell there’s no question that she walks in the same footsteps as Shaw’s, looking forward to a near future where we are willing to take more risks, to be more fearless, to speak up, speak out and show up for one another.

“At this point in my life’s journey, I am not passing my torch,” she says. “I am holding my splendid torch higher than ever, boldly and brilliantly — inviting you to join me in its dangerous light.”

Pat Mitchell speaks at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant, December 4-6, 2019, Palm Springs, California. Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED

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Taboo Breakers: Notes from Session 4 of TEDWomen 2019

“It shouldn’t be an act of feminism to know how your body works,” says gynecologist Jen Gunter. She discusses “menstrual shame” at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant on December 5, 2019, in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

In Session 4 of TEDWomen 2019, we tackle some big taboos — divorce, menopause, political dissent — and meet the extraordinary people on the front lines of breaking them.

The event: TEDWomen 2019, Session 4: Taboo Breakers, hosted by Corey Hajim and Shoham Arad

When and where: Thursday, December 5, 2019, 2:30pm PT, at La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California

Speakers: Jeannie Suk Gersen, Joel Leon, Jen Gunter, Lisa Mosconi, Rayma Suprani

Music: Filling the room with her unmistakable rasp, the legendary Macy Gray brought Session 5 to a joyous close with a collection of signature soul grooves.

The talks in brief:

Jeannie Suk Gersen, legal scholar, writer

Big idea: To understand how marriage works, we need to talk about how marriages end.

Why? It may sound counterintuitive, but talking early in a relationship about what happens when two people break up may be one of the best ways to learn how to stay together, says Jeannie Suk Gersen. Too often in marriages, we make sacrifices and we demand them without reckoning their costs, but there is wisdom in looking at the price of our marital decisions — in the same way that divorce law teaches us to do. Where to begin? Gerson lays out three ideas we should discuss with our partners from the get-go: 1) How sacrifice can be a fair exchange; 2) How childcare will impact the relationship; and 3? Which assets will be shared, and which kept separate. If we take the time to have these divorce-conscious and difficult conversations, she says, we can better navigate togetherness.

Quote of the talk: “Divorce makes it incredibly explicit who owes what to whom. Whether you’re married or divorced, those are debts of love that will need to be paid.”

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Joel Leon, performer, author and storyteller

Big idea: Parenting inevitably involves sacrifice, but the burden of that sacrifice should be shared. Co-parenting challenges partners to ask: How can I show up for you in a way that benefits our family?

How?  “Co-parenting” might sound like a buzzword invented by well-to-do families and modern sitcoms, says Joel Leon, but it actually refers to a parenting style that challenges fathers and mothers to show up for each other in a world that often assumes fathers to be absent. Tying his participation as a co-parent to his own experiences as a child — when his mother was the sole source of love, warmth and shelter in his life — Leon asks parents everywhere to reject the stigmas associated with fatherhood and the stereotypes associated with motherhood. Create space for compassion and communication in the home, he says: being a parent is an opportunity, not a responsibility. 

Quote of the talk: “It is work, beautifully hard work, dismantling the systems that would have us believe a women’s role is in the kitchen tending to all things domestic, while the hapless dad fumbles over himself whenever he has to spend a weekend alone with the kids. It is work that needs to happen. Now.”

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Jen Gunter, gynecologist

Big idea: Menstruation has been, historically, a topic connected with shame. Yet this “menstrual shame” has been used as an intentional tool repression against women — and knowledge about the female body is the key to ending it.

How?  For centuries, women and girls have been told that their menstrual pain isn’t real, that their bleeding bodies are gross (or dangerous, or even evil) and that they shouldn’t talk about their periods. These messages silence women, causing a lack of information that perpetuates profound menstrual shame in many societies, says Jen Gunter. She explains how not knowing what is happening to your body is disempowering — and gives a quick lesson on the internal processes of the uterus, from ovulation to menstruation. When we know how the body works, we can end the menstrual taboo, and when we know what kind of pain is typical, we can begin addressing it. 

Quote of the talk: “It shouldn’t be an act of feminism to know how your body works. It shouldn’t be an act of feminism to ask for help when you’re suffering.”

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Lisa Mosconi, neuroscientist

Big idea: Women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and we need to pay closer attention to the connection between hormones, menopause and brain health.

How? While there is no such thing as a “gendered brain,” our hormones are actually more closely connected to our brain health than we might realize. In her work, Lisa Mosconi has noted that many of the symptoms we associate with the menopause — hot flashes, night sweats, memory lapses, anxiety — are neurological symptoms. They start in the brain, because of its relationship with estrogen, the hormone whose levels drop when women go through the menopause.  Estrogen plays a vital role in energy production, giving our brain the fuel it needs. Once estrogen levels decline, our neurons slow down and begin to age faster. This puts women at a higher risk of developing the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s. This research is still in its early stages, Mosconi notes, but it suggests that women’s brains in mid life are more sensitive to hormonal aging than to simply growing older. If we break the taboos around speaking about the menopause, we can do more for women’s health — and their brain health in particular.

Quote of the talk: “So many women are worried that they might be losing their minds, but the truth is that your brain is going through a transition and it needs time and support.”

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Rayma Suprani, political cartoonist and activist

Big Idea: Political cartoonists are vital to a healthy and free society. As the right to free speech faces rising threats, we need to ensure that cartoonists have the freedom to express their ideas.

How? In 2014, Rayma Suprani submitted a cartoon to her editor at El Universal (a major Venezuelan newspaper) that criticized the health care system. The next day, she was fired. Many suspect the government was involved, and the resulting threats Suprani faced were so terrifying she eventually left the country. Political cartoonists provide an important perspective in society, says Suprani, translating complex social and political issues into a single image. They introduce new ways of looking at the world and government, sparking discussion and raising awareness. When cartoonists aren’t able to express their ideas without fear of backlash, we lose an essential voice in political and cultural dialogue. However, by ensuring cartoonists can freely share their ideas and criticisms, we can better speak truth to power and cultivate a more free world.

Quote of the talk: “A drawing can be a synthesis of a place: a universe, a country or a society. It can also represent the inner workings of someone’s mind. For me, drawing cartoons is a form of resistance.”

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Strike for the climate: Jane Fonda speaks at TEDWomen 2019

Civil disobedience is becoming a new normal, says actor and activist Jane Fonda. She speaks with host Pat Mitchell about Fire Drill Fridays, her weekly climate demonstrations, at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant on December 5, 2019 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

At age 81, actor and activist Jane Fonda is putting her body on the line for the earth. In a video interview with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Fonda speaks about Fire Drill Fridays, the weekly demonstrations on Capitol Hill she leads in partnership with Greenpeace.

Since moving to the Washington D.C. in September 2019, Fonda has staged a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill every Friday to protest the extraction of fossil fuels. She’s been arrested multiple times and spent a night in jail, and her actions are inspiring people around the world to host their own Fire Drill Fridays. She believes protest is becoming a new normal — at least until we see the changes we want. But, she says, we don’t need to get arrested to raise awareness. She details some of the ways we can pressure our lawmakers and hold governments accountable.

Here are highlights from the interview.

Pat Michell: Talk to us about the origin of Fire Drill Fridays.

Jane Fonda: “I was very inspired by Greta Thunberg, the Swedish student, and by the young school climate strikers. Greta says: we have to get out of our comfort zone, we have to behave like our house is burning — because it is. She really struck a chord in me. … It’s an enormous challenge. We have eleven years, many say, a decade. And I thought, ‘Oh, I’m so lucky that I am healthy and living in a decade where we, who are alive, can actually make the difference — we can make the difference as to whether there is a livable future or not.’ What a glorious responsibility we have. We have to step up to the plate. …

“So, I decided, like Greta, I was going to put my body on the line and move to the center of American power, Washington, DC, and have a rally every Friday like the students do. And we work with the students — they speak at my rallies and I speak at their rallies — and then after we speak, we engage in civil disobedience and risk getting arrested.”

PM: Do you have any concerns about putting your body on the line, and your life on hold?

JF: “I realize that not everybody can leave work and go do what I’m doing,” Fonda says. “But I must say that requests are pouring in, and not only from the United States but from other countries, people who want to start Fire Drill Fridays. And the people who are coming and getting arrested with me and engaging in civil disobedience, many of them have never done it before. And they find it transformative.

“But the fact is that there are so many things people can do, starting with talking about it, expressing how you feel about it … even when it’s uncomfortable. … Of course voting is very, very important, and we have to vote for the people that are the bravest, the boldest of our elected officials.”

PM: What would success for Fire Drill Friday look like to you?

JF: “Success would look like every state stops all new fossil fuel expansion. Because if they keep drilling, fracking and mining, the problem will just get worse. So that no matter what we do with windmills and solar collectors and so forth, we’ll never be able to catch up. We have to stop all new expansion.”

PM: Will fire drill Fridays continue?

JF: “There has been such an interest in it … from all around the country, people asking if they can start one …we’re thinking about maybe doing it in Los Angeles.

“But I want to correct one thing: I’m not leading. It’s the young people — it’s the students — that are leading. It’s always the young people that step up with the courage. And it’s pretty amazing, because they’re risking a lot. It’s pretty brave to take a Friday off from school … but they’re doing it anyway. There have been millions of them … all around the world, and they’re saying, ‘Don’t let us have to deal with this by ourselves, we didn’t create this problem. Come and help us.’ So, Grandmas unite!”

PM: Do you leave this experience with a new level of hope or optimism?

Fonda: “Yes, I am optimistic. There are about twenty-five million people in this country who are really scared about climate crisis, and they want to do something but no one has asked them. We have to ask them. We have to get organized. … This coming year is the critical year. What happens is going to be so important. Especially someone who is healthy, who feels relatively young, who has a platform — we have to use it in every possible way we can.”

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Planet Protectors: Notes from Session 3 of TEDWomen 2019

Singer-songwriter Shawnee brings her undeniable stage presence to TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

The impacts of climate change are being experienced, right now. In Session 3 of TEDWomen 2019, we dig deep into some of the most urgent environmental issues we’re facing — exploring solutions and the many ways people across the globe are fighting for change.

The event: TEDWomen 2019, Session 3: Planet Protectors, hosted by Whitney Pennington Rodgers and Chee Pearlman

When and where: Thursday, December 5, 2019, 11am PT, at La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California

Speakers: Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Kelsey Leonard, Shawnee, Colette Pichon Battle, Renee Lertzmann, Jane Fonda

Music: Singer-songwriter Shawnee brings their undeniable stage presence and music of empowerment to the stage, performing two songs: “Way Home” and “Warrior Heart.”

The talks in brief:

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, environmental activist

Big idea: To combat climate change, we must combine our current efforts with those of indigenous people. Their rich, extensive knowledge base and long-standing relationship with the earth are the keys to survival.

Why? Modern science and technology date back only a few hundred years, but indigenous knowledge spans thousands, says Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. As she puts it: “For us, nature is our supermarket … our pharmacy … our school.” But climate change threatens indigenous people’s — and all of humanity’s — way of life. In her nomadic community, some of its social fabric is unraveling under the strain of its effects. To ensure resilience in the face of these developments, she suggests a marriage of new and old learnings to map and share crucial information for global survival. “We have 10 years to change it. 10 years is nothing,” she says. “So we need to act all together and we need to act right now.”

Quote of the talk: “I think if we put together all the knowledge systems that we have — science, technology, traditional knowledge — we can give the best of us to protect our peoples, to protect the planet, to restore the ecosystems that we are losing.”

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“We need to fundamentally transform the way in which we value water,” says Kelsey Leonard. She speaks at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant on December 5, 2019 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Kelsey Leonard, Indigenous legal scholar and scientist

Big idea: Granting our water bodies legal personhood is the first step to addressing our water crises and injustices —  especially those endured by indigenous people. 

Why? Water is essential to life. Yet, in the eyes of the law, it remains largely unprotected — and our most vulnerable communities lack access to it, says Kelsey Leonard. As a representative of the Shinnecock Nation, she shares the wisdom of her nokomis, or grandmother, on how we should honor this precious life source, and that’s by asking these questions: What if we asked who water is, in the same way that we might ask who is mother? This type of orientation fundamentally transforms the way in which we think about water, she says — prompting us to grant water the same rights that corporations hold under the US’s Citizens United case. In this way, and by looking to indigenous laws, we can reconnect with the lakes, oceans and seas around us.

Quote of the talk: “We are facing a global water crisis. And if we want to address these crises in our lifetime, we need to change. We need to fundamentally transform the way in which we value water.”

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Colette Pichon Battle, attorney and climate equity advocate

Big idea: Climate migration — the mass displacement of communities by climate change — will escalate rapidly in the coming years. We need to prepare by radically shifting policies and mindsets.

Why? It’s predicted that climate change will displace more than 180 million people by 2100. As a generational native of southern Louisiana and an attorney who has worked on post-Hurricane Katrina disaster recovery, Colette Pichon Battle believes the world is not prepared for these population shifts — and she urges us to plan before it’s too late. How? By first acknowledging that climate change is a symptom of exploitative economic systems that privilege the few over the many, and then working to transform them. We need to develop collective resilience, preparing communities to receive climate migrants by allocating resources and changing social attitudes. And, finally, she says, we must re-indigenize ourselves, committing to ecological equity and human rights as foundational tenets of a new climate-resilient society.

Quote of the talk: “All of this requires us to recognize a power greater than ourselves and a life longer than the one we will live. We must transform from a disposable, short-sighted reality of the individual to one that values the long-term life cycle of our collective humanity. Even the best of us are entangled in an unjust system. To survive, we will have to find our way to a shared liberation.”

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Renee Lertzman, climate psychologist 

Big idea: We need to make our emotional well-being a fundamental part of the fight against climate change.

How? What’s happening to our planet feels overwhelming. While we have a lot of information at our fingertips when it comes to the science of climate change, we know much less about its emotional impact. Renee Lertzman has interviewed hundreds of people about how climate change makes them feel, and she wants to equip us with a toolkit to handle our climate grief and still be able to take action. Patience, compassion and kindness are all qualities we need to deploy much more often in our conversations about the crisis, she says. As climate events push us outside our “window of tolerance” — the stresses we can withstand without becoming overwhelmed — numbness and apathy are natural responses. A lot of people tell her: “I don’t know where to start.” She recommends practicing attunement: listening to our own feelings and those of others, accepting them without judgement and meeting our experiences with curiosity. Whether we’re with a few friends or at a larger climate action gathering, remembering that we are human is a key ingredient in the fight for our world.

Quote of the talk: “These are hard issues. This is a hard moment to be a human being. We’re waking up.”

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Civil disobedience is becoming a new normal, says actor and activist Jane Fonda. She speaks with host Pat Mitchell about Fire Drill Fridays, her weekly climate demonstrations, at TEDWomen 2019: Bold + Brilliant on December 5, 2019 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Jane Fonda, actor, author and activist

Big idea: In the wake of climate change, protest is becoming a new normal — at least until we see the changes we want.

Why? At age 81, Jane Fonda is putting her body on the line for the earth. In a video interview with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Fonda discusses Fire Drill Fridays, the weekly demonstrations on Capitol Hill she leads in partnership with Greenpeace. Since moving to Washington D.C. in September, Fonda has staged a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill every Friday to protest the extraction of fossil fuels. She has been arrested multiple times and spent a night in jail, and her actions are inspiring people around the world to host their own Fire Drill Fridays. But, she says, we don’t need to get arrested to raise awareness; there are many other ways to put pressure on lawmakers and hold governments accountable. Read a full recap of her interview here.

Quote of the talk: “There are about twenty-five million people in this country who are really scared about climate crisis, and they want to do something but no one has asked them. We have to ask them. We have to get organized.”

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