Across the sprawling city of Los Angeles — within feet of children’s bedrooms, playgrounds, office buildings, and places of worship — there’s an oil well, exuding toxins that put nearby residents at risk of asthma attacks, reproductive issues, and multiple types of cancer. The evidence stacked against Big Oil is alarming, and after more than 130 years since drilling began in the town of flowers and sunshine, the Los Angeles city council unanimously voted to phase out drilling in January 2021.
In response, oil and gas companies collected enough signatures for a referendum to challenge the legislation. Now, it’s up to voters in November to decide whether or not the protective ban makes it past the finish line. As Big Oil continues to throw millions of dollars at propaganda to sway public opinion, a clear-eyed Jane Fonda and her allies are fighting back.
“If you can’t change the people — change the people, vote them out, replace them with climate champions. That’s my call for this year,” Fonda told Rolling Stone, days before a benefit to raise money for Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, a grassroots initiative working to protect the environmental safety ban and opposing the referendum.
“The fossil fuel industry is a wounded beast right now,” she continued. “Oil is running out without anybody doing anything. Fossil fuels are on their way out, and so they are poking holes all over the place as fast as they can to try to get the last drop of gas or oil, as quickly as they can to ratchet up their profits. It’s really dangerous right now, and we have to stop them.” She pressed on: “This isn’t just happening in California. I’ve seen it all over the country, right in the middle of Denver, Commerce City, they’re surrounded by pollution from this industry. Nobody helps them. We have to stop them.”
Fonda has been an activist for over 50 years, beginning with the anti-war movement, and rallied some of the biggest names in Hollywood and politics to an art auction at Gagosian’s Bevery Hills outpost Tuesday to do just that. Mayor Karen Bass, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, Maria Shriver, Derek Blasberg, Mary Steenburgen, Katherine Ross, and more showed up in support of the cause. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, who performed an intimate set for the audience, were also in attendance.
In a tented room, art by Frank Gehry, Ed Ruscha, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Charles Gaines, Nan Goldin, Alex Israel, Marilyn Minter, Christina Quarles, Kenny Scharf, and Joey Terrill were on display. “The one principle I work around is justice. Our system, our nation, our planet — it should give everyone a fair shot at a decent life. Anything that keeps that from happening, I want to push back against,” said artist Shepard Fairey, when discussing his motivation to join Fonda’s rallying call. Fairey, who founded Obey, will be contributing art for auction in the coming months, and has created iconic works for the Obama campaign, Black Lives Matter, and the Women’s March.
By the end of night, the ticketed event had mustered more than $10 million — and to date, $17 million.
“What you see here tonight is us coming together to stand up against a terrible environmental injustice and an attack on democracy by Big Oil,” said Fonda, speaking to the crowd. “They’re trying to do it in other states and we have to show that they can be beat. We in California have to defeat them.”
As a reminder of what was at stake, Fonda invited 22-year-old activist Nalleli Cobo, a cancer survivor who grew up next to an oil well, to share her story. “I am living proof of the intersectionality of climate and health,” began Cobo. “I was diagnosed with stage two reproductive cancer a month after I turned 18, and I was forced to choose between my reproductive system and my life. I’m here, but I fight every day so that decision ends with me.”
“I believe everyone has the right to breathe clean air despite their age, gender, ethnicity, social economic status, religion or zip code,” she continued. “Clean air is a basic human right.”
As people gathered their coats and purses to leave, filtering back out onto the streets of Los Angeles, Fonda’s advice from our earlier conversation echoed: “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together … There are enough of us that if we band together, and we do it together, we can win.”
Additional works of art will be auctioned in Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale in May. Gagosian’s Beverly Hills gallery will present a second set of works in a summer exhibition.
