As an educator who teaches environmental health, I could easily present statistics and expert opinions about the physical well‑being of our planet. But that’s not the Climate Change I want to talk about today. Instead, I want to invite you to consider a shift far more urgent than melting ice caps or receding glaciers: the emotional climate change emerging within younger generations—one marked by heightened anxiety—and the corresponding need for leaders who choose to move away from fear and toward shalom.

If you’re unsure whether we inhabit an anxious culture, spend a moment with generational research, including what I discussed in The Great Rewiring, or simply scroll through any current media feed. Even the humble weather app now reads like an anxiety engine, warning of unprecedented storms headed our way—adding yet another layer of fear to an already saturated emotional environment.

But there is another kind of Climate Change we can pursue. It doesn’t involve snowstorms or panicked grocery runs. It involves the social and emotional climate—the internal atmosphere leaders cultivate when guiding this emerging generation. I believe, along with many others, that Christian higher education has a unique opportunity to model what is known as Transformissional Leadership and to help shift that climate toward wholeness.

Jennifer Hollenberger echoes Jonathan Haidt’s concerns in The Anxious Generation while framing the issue through a Christian lens. She writes that the disconnection shaping today’s emotional climate is ultimately a manifestation of the brokenness introduced by the fall and the entrance of sin into the world, separating us from God and one another. Yet recognizing this disconnection also reminds us of the hope in Christ’s redemptive work.
Through Christ, she notes, we are called to restore broken relationships and lead others toward shalom by modeling a life rooted in meaningful connection.

Christian higher education, she continues, offers a powerful space for this work because it embraces the integration of faith and learning. Students can wrestle with ideas—secular and sacred—and learn to filter them through a Christian worldview. This formation empowers them to become catalysts for the kind of Climate Change our world deeply needs: one that transforms both how we think and how we live.

A significant part of this work involves cultivating what John Blasé calls a “non‑anxious presence.” When educators and leaders embody calm, grounded, Christ‑centered leadership, students learn how to push back against the cultural tide of chronic anxiety and instead adopt a transformational leadership approach.

Those of us in Christian higher education have a remarkable opportunity to lead the next generation well. Edwin Friedman and Tim Elmore describe how emotional Climate Change occurs when leaders follow the model Jesus provided:

• staying calm in anxious settings,
• remaining clear about mission and purpose,
• connecting deeply without controlling,
• showing courage in conflict,
• and maintaining steadiness even when criticized or opposed.

When we lead in this way, we may see Generation Alpha grow into problem solvers who embrace a service and growth mindset—students who emerge with resilience, grit, and resourcefulness.

Choosing a non‑anxious presence is ultimately choosing to lead like Jesus. It’s choosing the quiet confidence David models in Psalm 4—a trust in God that remains steady amid distress and external pressure. To flourish in life is not to mirror the world’s anxious distraction but to embody the harmony, peace, and well‑being of shalom. This is the Climate Change worth pursuing. And we, as Christian educators and leaders, have the privilege of helping it take root.

References:

Blasé, J. (2026, February 12). A non-anxious presence. Our Daily Bread. https://www.odbm.org/en/devotionals/devotional-category/a-nonanxious-presence?ts=1770854400000

Friedman, E.H. (2007). A failure of nerve: Leadership in the age of the quick fix. Seabury Books.

Elmore, T. (n.d.). An early introduction to Generation Alpha. Growing Leaders.

Haidt, J. (2024). The anxious generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. Penguin Press.

Hollenberger, J.T. (2024, October 23). The Anxious Generation: A Christian educator’s reflection. Christian Scholars Review. https://christianscholars.com/the-anxious-generation-a-christian-educators-reflection/