Addressing Climate Anxiety and Misconceptions: A Discussion on Empathy and Leadership

So a few weeks ago, Donald Trump Jr. shares a quote unquote, resurface clip of Vice President Harris talking about climate anxiety with a group of young people. I’ve heard young leaders talk with me about a term they’ve coined called climate anxiety. Right? Which is fear of the future and the unknown of whether it makes sense for you to even think about having children. He accuses her of suggesting that it’s reasonable for young people to not have children because of their concerns about the environment. Here’s the thing. She wasn’t even doing that. She was talking to young people about their legitimate concerns about the environment. And she was talking to them about the things that she and the administration have done to deal and to address climate change. But because people voted, we have been able to put in place over a trillion dollars in investment in our country around things like climate resilience and adaptation. So you can imagine my shock when I’m watching the Dana Bash interview of JD Vance and he accuses Kamala of being anti-child and suggests that she is encouraging young people to not have children because of climate change. I criticized Kamala Harris for being part of a set of ideas that exists in American leadership that is anti-family. I never, Dana, criticized people for not having kids. I criticized people for being anti-child. And I do think that Kamala Harris has made some bizarre statements. She has said things like it’s reasonable not to have children over climate change. I think it’s the exact opposite message we should be sending to our young families. Here’s the thing. I don’t know about you, but I want my leaders to actually sit down and listen to other people’s concerns, whether I agree with them or not. I want my leader to have empathy, to have respect for others, people’s anxieties and concerns and to not have judgment about them. It’s not right to label someone as anti-child, anti-family simply because they’re sitting down with a group of young folks or anyone and legitimately listening to their concerns. That’s what leadership is. What do you think?