Jane Fonda’s climate activism brings her to Denver’s most polluted neighborhood

DENVER — You might know her as an actress, fitness guru or controversial Vietnam protester, but nowadays, Jane Fonda’s focus is on the environment. That’s what brought her to Denver and Commerce City, home to one of the most polluted zip codes in the United States.

At the Green House Connection Center, an environmental activist hub in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, Fonda joined local politicians, community activists and current and former Colorado officials on Thursday.

Her visit to Colorado comes after three weeks of traveling through the Gulf states of Texas and Louisiana to film a documentary about the oil and gas industry.

“I’ve been a climate activist for a long time,” Fonda said. But after learning about fracking’s effects on communities, “I stopped thinking about the climate, and I started thinking about people’s health,” she said.

“The fossil fuel industry isn’t just the main cause of the climate crisis, which will affect everything that we do in life, including democracy, our ability to eat, clean air,” Fonda said. “It’s also killing people.”

Fonda’s concerns are shared by many of the Coloradans who met with her.

“Colorado is one of the top producers in the country of oil and gas, so reforms have been long overdue,” said former Colorado State Senator Mike Foote, who helped pass a 2019 law that shifted the mission of the state’s top agency overseeing the oil and gas industry. The newly named Energy and Carbon Management Commission is now supposed to consider community impacts before approving new operations.

“Predictably, there’s been a lot of pushback from the industry,” Foote said. “Passing the bill and passing the policy is just the first step.”

Jessica Campbell-Swanson, recently elected to the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners, said local officials like her are leveraging that law to pass environmental protections beyond those set by the state.

“When there is political will, there is a way,” Campbell-Swanson said. “The state is looking out for the whole state, but it’s our responsibility to fight for our individual communities.”

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