Joaquin Phoenix has been at the top of his activist game throughout award season so far. During his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, he mentioned the "link between animal agriculture and climate change." However, Phoenix is not merely posturing across the world's television screens. He's been putting his body behind his words by attending protests in connection to this cause. He ditched a SAG Awards after-party to stand at a vigil for pigs being taken to a slaughterhouse. His latest act of protest involved going to Jane Fonda's Fire Drill Fridays in Los Angeles.

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Since October 2019, Fonda has been hosting these rallies weekly in Washington, DC to demand that politicians properly address climate change. She has just moved this initiative to Los Angeles, where they will surely continue to attract celebrity participation. This past Friday (Feb. 7) marked Phoenix's second time attending Fire Drill Fridays. The rally he went to last month in the nation's capital resulted in him being arrested along with Martin Sheen. He attended this Friday's rally with his fiancee, Rooney Mara, where he went onstage to introduce environmental justice activist, Nalleli Cobo. 

Jane Fonda has been holding her weekly climate change protests called “Fire Drill Fridays” for several months now, and this Friday, she was joined by a recent Golden-Globe winner. Joaquin Phoenix marched with Jane in D.C. along with fellow protesters, including actor and long-time political protester, Martin Sheen, and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. These environmental protests are held every week in an effort to fight climate change by demanding fast action on a Green New Deal. During this week’s protest, attendees are specifically calling for an end to all new fossil fuel exploration/extraction and demanding a halt on granting taxpayer subsidies to oil companies. Joaquin, Jane, Martin, and tons of other protesters were detained after cops warned them that arrests are imminent if they don’t cooperate and disperse.

In the clip, protestors can be seen holding up signs and chanting, “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” followed by “What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now!” The video then cuts to Joaquin getting detained as supporters cheer him on from afar.

Before his detainment, Joaquin took the podium to warn others about the effects that the meat and dairy industries have on the environment.  “Something that I think isn’t often times talked about in the environmental movement or in the conversation about climate change is that the meat and dairy industry is the third leading cause of climate change” he declared. This statement was met with applause from the crowd, after which he continued, “I think sometimes, we wonder, ‘what can we do in this fight against climate change?’ There’s something that you can do today, right now, and tomorrow, by making a choice about what you consume.” Martin Sheen, who has been arrested over 70 times for his own protesting efforts, followed Joaquin, giving a powerful speech complete with poetic metaphors.

On Sunday, Joaquin won the Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama,” for the titular role in the film, Joker. In his speech, he mirrored similar sentiments about environmental change, by giving a shoutout to the Hollywood Foreign Press “for recognizing and acknowledging the link between animal agriculture and change” by making the meals at the ceremony plant-based.  He also addressed the wildfires in Australia and called on his peers to take action. “It’s really nice that so many people have come up and sent their well wishes to Australia but we have to do more than that,” he said in his speech. “Hopefully we can be unified and make some changes. It’s great to vote, but sometimes we have to take that responsibility on ourselves and make changes and sacrifices in our own lives.”