"This is our new reality in a climate crisis world," she told AFP in an interview in the snatched minutes between events linked to a summit hosted by France to rethink how the world funds international goals to end poverty and halt global warming.
News of the storm had made Mottley, who co-headlined the summit, agonise about whether to rush home, underscoring the challenges small island nations face.
In the end, she told fellow leaders at the opening of the meeting, she decided to stay to help push for action.
Mottley has played a key role in galvanising world leaders on reforms that had languished on the global to-do list for years, but she is keen underscore that this is an "inclusive process" involving a host of other countries, organisations and civil society.
"We only have this planet and unless you have a plan to live on Mars that I don't know about then we need to work together to make it better," she told AFP.
Mottley, who on Thursday called for "absolute transformation" of institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, sounded a note of caution about the level of political will.
"I think that there are problems in getting governments to overcome domestic politics and geopolitics," she said.
But on Thursday evening, ahead of her appearance onstage at Global Citizen's "Power Our Planet" concert featuring Billie Eilish, Mottley was celebrating a win.
"Today is a good day in that we have had almost everybody accept the validity of natural disaster clauses," she told AFP, referring to one of the key items in the Barbados proposal for retooling the financial system.
Earlier, World Bank president Ajay Banga said the lender would introduce a "pause" mechanism on debt repayments for countries hit by a crisis so they can "focus on what matters" and "stop worrying about the bill that is going come".
That is important for countries facing increasingly ferocious storms, floods and droughts that can wipe out chunks of an economy virtually overnight.
Speaking onstage with Banga, Mottley said Barbados had campaigned for years on this issue and praised him for agreeing to it just days into his new role.
"Your shoulders have to be broad for this moment," she told him, after commending Emmanuel Macron's climate leadership in the face of chants from the mainly young crowd against the French leader.
- Storms brewing -
The Paris summit comes amid growing recognition that curbing global warming at tolerable levels will require a massive increase in spending by poor and emerging economies on climate resilience and clean energy investment.
Other proposals from developing countries include how to turn "billions to trillions" for climate and development goals using multilateral development banks to help unlock private sector investments, as well as taxation on fossil fuel profits and financial transactions.
For many nations participating in the Paris talks, particularly those in the V20 group of more than 50 climate vulnerable countries, those ideas are based on painful experience.
Countries are being lashed by ever more expensive impacts, on top of a range of other challenges -- from inflation to collapsing ecosystems.
Mottley said the storm threatening Barbados is likely to brush north of the country.
"But we still have to be careful," she said, adding that storms used to hit from June to October or November, but now they can batter the country from May to December.
And she said "immediately after this one, there's another one coming".
Jane Fonda ready to 'kick ass' on climate crisis
Beverly Hills, United States (AFP) June 23, 2023 -
She is 85, has a glittering film career behind her, and recently battled cancer, but Jane Fonda doesn't intend to slow down her activism on climate change -- the "greatest crisis ever to confront humanity" -- anytime soon.
"My cancer is in remission. I've got a lot of energy. I'm ready to kick some more ass," she told AFP on Thursday, backstage at the ongoing Hollywood Climate Summit.
"I'm part of the Hollywood community. I don't think the Hollywood community has done enough to confront this crisis. So I'm here to encourage that," said the double Oscar-winning actor.
The summit brings filmmakers together with scientists and activists, in a bid to change the industry's culture and encourage better climate messaging to global audiences.
Taking place at the Oscar-bestowing Academy's headquarters in Los Angeles, it has featured speakers such as "Everything Everywhere All At Once" directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and "Abbott Elementary" star Quinta Brunson.
Fonda led a panel named "Hollywood Takes on Big Oil and Gas," calling for the entertainment industry to scrap all fossil fuel investments and to reduce its carbon footprint.
She discussed a California law banning new oil wells within 3,200 feet (975 meters) of homes, schools and parks.
After years of campaigning, the bill was finally signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last year -- only for energy firms to garner enough petition signatures to freeze the measure, and require a statewide referendum next year.
"People are getting cancer, heart disease, lung disease, asthma -- kids missing school, children born with defects because they live next to fossil fuel infrastructures," said Fonda.
If the oil companies succeed in opposing the bill "in a blue, environmental state like California, this is going to become a precedent in other states around the country," she said.
"It has to be stopped. This is all-hands-on-deck."
- 'All I can' -
Fonda first shot to fame in the 1960s with roles such as "Barbarella," which made her an international sex symbol, before garnering critical acclaim and two Academy Awards in the following decade for "Klute" and "Coming Home."
Over the same period, she launched into activism.
Most controversially, Fonda became the first Hollywood celebrity to visit Hanoi to protest the Vietnam war, earning the nickname "Hanoi Jane."
But environmentalism has long been a priority for Fonda, who has become one of America's leading political activists.
In recent years alone, she has spoken on ocean biodiversity at the United Nations, protested a proposed oil pipeline in Minnesota, and been arrested on a weekly basis for climate demonstrations outside the US Capitol in Washington.
"If I'm not doing the things that you just mentioned, I get so depressed I can't sleep," said Fonda.
"But I'm not depressed, because I'm doing all I can... We all have to do all we can, before it's too late."
Admittedly, speaking out on green issues comes with risks for celebrities. Critics are invariably quick to accuse famous stars of enjoying glamorous lifestyles while preaching austerity.
But Fonda believes those jibes are often simply a sign that the message is working.
"They do that when we're effective," she said.
"The right-wing segments of our society don't like it when famous people speak out, because people will listen to us.
"And so they say, 'What does she know? She's just an actor.'"
- 'People listen' -
Fonda has also enjoyed a flurry of acting projects in recent years, such as films "80 for Brady" and "Book Club: The Next Chapter," as well as the popular Netflix series "Grace and Frankie."
But last September, she revealed she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and had begun chemotherapy.
Just three months later, Fonda -- who previously overcame breast and skin cancer scares -- announced the disease was in remission, and that she was no longer in treatment.
While a writer's strike has currently brought many Hollywood productions to a halt, Fonda intends to refocus her energies entirely on activism in the build-up to next year's US elections.
"I don't intend to even try to work for the next year-and-a-half, because I want to focus on this," she said. "The next election is really crucial."
Fonda added: "When you're famous and you have a platform, people listen, people pay attention."
"And so use it! For a crisis that is the greatest crisis ever to confront humanity."
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