Actress and activist Jane Fonda, three Democratic members of Congress and other environmentalists talked about environmental activism in anticipation of the upcoming second term of President-elect Donald Trump at Lisner Auditorium on Tuesday.

Fonda was joined by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), environmentalist Roishetta Ozane and a myriad of other speakers ranging from members of Congress to student activists in a more than two-and-a-half-hour long event discussing climate activism in the upcoming presidential term. Anti-oil climate organization Fossil Free Media organized the event, which was co-sponsored by 67 other national and local climate organizations.

Lennox Yearwood, president and CEO of the political activism organization the Hip Hop Caucus, said environmentalists must have courage in the upcoming “climate fight.” Speaking to oil executives that may be watching the livestream, he said if they expected to watch the “funeral” of the climate movement, they were instead watching “halftime.”

“I’m so glad this was called the ‘climate fight ahead rally’ because it’s clear for our movement that we are not in an argument, but a fight,” Yearwood said. 

He said climate activists have to be “much more compassionate” moving forward and turn “sulking” about the results of the 2024 presidential election into action in the fight against climate change.

Fonda has been a prominent activist for decades, opposing the Vietnam War, advocating for environmental conservation and supporting feminist causes.

She held “Fire Drill Fridays” rallies to protest government inaction on climate change during Trump’s first term which were touted as an entry point for people who are wanting to take action. She said environmentalists need to make the fight over tax breaks for oil companies “excruciating” for Congress members. 

“You have to make them sweat and squirm,” Fonda said. “Let them know that if they vote for these subsidies to the wealthiest corporations in human history, we’ll make sure their constituents know when they’re up for re-election.”

Fonda said Trump voters will realize he is not “taking the country forward,” and environmentalists have to be ready to “welcome them into our tent” when they seek solutions to their concerns about the climate. She said the upcoming Trump term gives climate activists a chance to regroup and craft new strategies for future campaigns and elections.

“Ideas that get picked up are ideas that are ready to go,” Fonda said. “And we have four years to incubate this.”

Ozane, founder of Louisiana based environmental justice organization the Vessel Project, told her story of living in a community polluted by oil and gas refineries and how the pollution from the refineries affected the health of her family. She said she became an activist to remind people that environmentalists and those harmed by climate change are “real people.”

“This is what we’re dealing with in our community,” Ozane said. “We wake up, we see pollution, we smell pollution. We can’t drink water from the faucet.”

She said the Biden administration can still make climate-positive changes by releasing more Inflation Reduction Act funds to states, a 2022 law that allocated funds for clean energy and climate change, before Trump returns to office. The Biden administration awarded more than $100 billion in IRA funds as clean energy grants this week, funds that experts say cannot be rescinded by Trump once they are officially allocated.

“We have to take care of people. We have to put people first,” Ozane said. “We’re begging this administration to make way for them, get those funds down to community organizations and to people.”

Markey, the Senate author of the Green New Deal, a proposed clean-energy law that would mandate United States carbon neutrality by 2050, said Democrats and activists are going to face “an uphill battle” with a “climate denier in chief” in the Oval Office. Markey said even though Trump has a “doomsday day one agenda,” he and other elected officials “won’t stop fighting” to protect a “liveable future.”

“We are going to get up and we are going to fight,” Markey said. “Just like climate change won’t be solved by any one president, climate action won’t be stopped by any one president.”

He said Trump is not naming a cabinet but a “cartel,” indicated by his selections that include officials that question the existence of climate change at agencies like the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Interior.

Chris Wright, Trump’s pick for energy secretary, is an executive of fracking company Liberty Energy. Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Trump’s pick to head the EPA, voted against clean air legislation a half-dozen and clean water legislation at least a dozen times while in Congress.

“We, in 2025, are going to have to get out. We’re going to have to fight every single day,” Markey said. “And in 2026, we’re gonna vote them out of office.”

Frost, the youngest and first Generation Z member of Congress, said his home state of Florida is a “frontline” state significantly impacted by climate change. He said the state has the largest group of “climate refugees” in the country because of recent hurricanes, and urged Biden to continue releasing Inflation Reduction Act funds to help the crisis before Trump takes office.

“The stories are louder than any corporate check, than any check from a polluter, than any wealthy person, than any media pundit wants to tell us anything else,” Frost said. “These stories are the way that we show people that the climate crisis is here.”

Other speakers included Steven Donziger, a prominent attorney and activist known for his ongoing legal battle with energy and gas company Chevron. Several GW students from on-campus student organizations like Climate Defiance, the Environmental Justice Action Network, the Sunrise Movement and Organizers for Revolutionary Climate Action also gave brief remarks about their groups.

Stansbury, who began her political career by running on climate issues in New Mexico, said people cannot give into the “politics of despair” over the next four years. She said although there are setbacks, each generation can continue to move the “ball forward” by making incremental progress.

“I believe that we have significant opportunity to advance the ball, to hold corporations accountable, to continue our work on the climate justice front that we must do for all of our communities,” Stansbury said.

She said “this is just the beginning” of the climate fight and that she and others are prepared to play the “long game.”

“We must continue to organize, to fight and to get out there and win these races, win these battles and win this war, to save our planet and save our communities,” Stansbury said. “And you all are going to make that happen.”