Violet Affleck has never backed down from her activism work, particularly after the pandemic when she lobbied for widespread mask mandates in her hometown of Los Angeles.
The 19-year-old recently opened up about another cause close to her heart, which led to a major argument with her mother, Jennifer Garner.
Climate crisis
© Michael TranIn an essay for Yale’s Global Health Review published on May 18, she detailed her family’s experience fleeing from the deadly LA wildfires that broke out in January, which claimed the lives of at least 30 people according to the Associated Press.
In her essay titled A Chronically Ill Earth: COVID Organizing as a Model Climate Response in Los Angeles, Violet wrote: “I spent the January fires in Los Angeles arguing with my mother in a hotel room.”
“She was shell-shocked, astonished at the scale of destruction in the neighborhood where she raised myself and my siblings,” she added.
© Getty ImagesThe 13 Going on 30 actress shares Violet, as well as kids Fin, 16, and Samuel, 13, with her ex-husband, Ben Affleck.
The college student continued: “I was surprised at her surprise: as a lifelong Angelena and climate-literate member of Generation Z, my question had not been whether the Palisades would burn but when.”
She added that her younger brother Samuel was confused about the connection between climate change and the winds that fueled the fires. “Hopefully most of us understand the climate crisis better than my little brother,” Violet wrote.
© Getty ImagesShe continued to explain how the climate crisis was “existential and accelerating”, adding that it was “driven by unsustainable consumption patterns concentrated among the wealthiest citizens of the wealthiest countries, all of which have already subjected most of this country and the world to deadly temperatures, fire-flood cycles, rising seas, and dying crops.”
Her mother was on the ground in LA in the aftermath of the wildfires, helping to feed communities with World Central Kitchen.
Jennifer revealed that she had tragically lost a friend in the fires, and called for volunteers to feed and shelter those who were impacted by the disaster.
Fighting force
© Bellocqimages/Bauer-GriffinAs well as raising awareness about the devastating effects of climate change, Violet is a fierce health advocate and spoke to the LA County Board of Supervisors in July 2024 about implementing mask mandates to protect the population after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I contracted a post-viral condition in 2019,” she said in her speech. “I’m okay now, but I saw first-hand that medicine does not always have answers to the consequences of even minor viruses. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown that into sharper relief.”
“To confront the long COVID crisis, I demand mask availability, air filtration and far-UVC light in government facilities, including jails and detention centers, and mask mandates in county medical facilities,” she continued.
© Getty Images“We must expand the availability of high-quality free tests and treatment and, most importantly, the county must oppose mask bans for any reason.”
Violet concluded: “They do not keep us safer, they make vulnerable members of our community less safe and make everyone less able to participate in Los Angeles together.”
Despite their hotel room argument, Jennifer shared on Live With Kelly and Mark that she couldn’t be prouder of her daughter for her fighting spirit. “She’s a self-starter,” the 53-year-old said. “I’m proud of her no matter what.”
To learn more about Violet’s advocacy work, see below…
