(bright upbeat music) - “Sometimes it falls to a generation to be great.

You can be that great generation.” When Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela said that he might have been talking about today's young Gen Z activists who are channeling their angst about the future into action.

You're about to meet four of the finest, who were motivated by their personal stories to rise up, speak out, and make the world a better place for those who will come next.

Joining us are Danielle Butcher Franz, Founding Member and CEO of the American Conservation Coalition.

Aalayah Eastmond, a gun safety and racial equality activist who survived the Parkland School shooting that killed 17.

Hadley Duvall, Reproductive Rights Advocate.

And Deja Foxx, a 2023 Global Citizen Award winner and Founder of the GenZ Girl Gang.

And we're honored, we really are to have you with us today.

We're thrilled about this.

Danielle, I'm going to start with you.

You grew up in Minnesota where you cultivated a passion for the planet, for its natural resources, and now you're on a mission to convince people that there's urgency involved with climate change.

Now I've heard you say that young people have been lied to.

They've been fed fear and alarmism, and basically they're very worried whether they're going to even have a future.

How do you change hearts and minds who feel that way?

- Well, I think there are a couple really important things to keep in mind here.

The first is that climate change is a serious problem and it does warrant action.

But what I hope young people can remember when they think about climate change is that surrendering to climate anxiety that they may feel or surrendering to this fear that there is no future doesn't do anyone any good.

And I would hope that young people can mobilize their anxieties and their insecurities about the future into action.

And that's what we do with the American Conservation Coalition.

We show young people how they can take this passion that they have for the environment and for their communities and channel it into productivity and into action that brings us all together.

- But how do you manage to rekindle hope?

If a young person feels, there's a lot of really bad news.

We're steeped in it, we hear it all the time.

How do you start to try and convince young people that all's not lost?

- Well I think that the environmental movement has to have two key pieces with it.

The first is a love for the environment and for nature.

I fostered that growing up in Minnesota surrounded by beautiful lakes and forests and I have very fond memories of my childhood.

And so I've always loved nature and the planet.

But the second thing is a love for people and a love for the communities that we grow up in.

And when you care about people, whether that's your family, whether that's your friends, whether that's the family that you want to grow someday, you have to fight for them and you have to be willing to put them first and do what's best for them.

And I think that using that care for other people is a really strong motivator in taking the next step, no matter how scary it may be, to fight for climate action.

- You are also, I've heard you referred to as a bridge builder.

And given the fact that you were a conservative who grew up in a very progressive family, I can imagine every night was like Thanksgiving dinner.

I don't know, just a guess.

But that you also started your organization when former President Trump announced that he thought climate change was a Chinese hoax.

So in terms of building bridges, I think you've probably had some experience.

What's the key to building a bridge?

- Well I think the most important thing is to remember that people have different experiences than you and they may have different motivations than you but that doesn't mean that they don't want the same things as you or that they don't have the same core values as you.

My family and I disagreed on plenty growing up.

I remember our dinner table.

Being an angsty teenager, I wanted to stir the pot and play devil's advocate and I was not always the bridge builder that I am today.

But I think that at the end of the day, we were able to walk away from the dinner table knowing that we all loved each other and we all still wanted the best for one another.

We wanted the best for our communities.

And if you can start with those very basic principles and recognize that you want the same things and identify the areas where there is common ground, it's much easier to take steps together.

And I think that in today's political environment, we often fall into this trap of setting litmus tests for one another and saying, well, if we disagree on this one thing, we can't work together on anything else.

- Right.

- And I think that's an enormous mistake.

I think that we should be identifying all the common ground that we have and taking as many steps forward as we can together.

- Okay, Hadley, you made a bold decision to go public with the gut wrenching story of how you became pregnant at the age of 12 after you were raped by your stepfather.

Here's the TV spot you made for Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear's re-election campaign, an ad that was largely credited with helping him win that election.

Let's watch.

- The story's powerful, but you're more powerful than the story and the anger and the pain.

Every time I see it, (sighs heavily) how do you make a decision to do that?

- Honestly, it was pretty easy.

I was a little nervous at first but they called me and were like, "We need you."

And I was like, "I'm there."

- And you had already gone public with this story?

- Yeah, right when Roe v. Wade was overturned, the day after, I made a Facebook post just saying, "You all don't know what this means," really was directed to the people that I knew and it got a lot of shares.

But then even after that, I really didn't hear anything for a little bit.

I attended some marches and stuff, and I tried to stay active and trying to figure out how can we get something rolling?

What can we do?

What does this mean?

I knew the election was coming up and then I received a call from Governor Beshear's office asking if I would be willing to film an ad.

- He did win the election?

And the victory party, you attended?

- I did.

- With your mother, who was very excited about it.

And after he thanked his wife and his kids, he thanked you and he said that the state of Kentucky's going to be a better place because of you.

And out of this, is it fair to say you found a calling, out of this whole experience?

- Absolutely, yes.

- How has it changed you?

- I always known that I want to advocate or be an advocate and just be able to speak for the kids who can't speak for themselves because I know what that feels like.

And I know when I was that young girl, I used to look for role models in this society who would go through something but would still make something of themselves.

So I knew I wanted to get onto that track, but this has just amplified that.

And Governor Beshear even said that.

He was like, "You are helping me, yes," he's like, "but you need to do this for you, not for me."

And that's exactly what it was for.

- And now you're studying psychology and you plan to go on to help victims?

- Oh yes.

- Did this free you up?

I mean, it had to have freed you up.

You seem so open.

- Yeah, so I first started even speaking just about this abuse itself when I was a freshman in high school.

So that was a little rough going through high school, having my business put out there.

I'm from a very small town, everybody knows everybody, and it took a long time to get to where I am today.

But if I wouldn't have started in high school, then now when I need to step up and be on that platform, I might not have had that strength that I do have.

- Before we move on to Deja and Aalayah, I just want to point out that your father is in prison.

You did bring charges?

Stepfather.

And you did subsequently have a miscarriage.

I'm sure people will wonder how this played out and that's how it played out.

- Yep.

- Deja also found her calling out of some adversity because eight years ago when you were 15 in Arizona growing up with a single mother who struggled with addiction issues and financial issues, you were homeless, and now you're hobnobbing with Vice President, Kamala Harris, you're winning the Global Citizen Award, you're everywhere.

And so the question is for everybody sitting there going, how does she do that?

Is this just the way you're wired to be, like super activist or what's the story?

- Thank you for the introduction and for listing some of the the accomplishments that I now hold.

But I think if folks remember anything from me, I want them to know that I am not exceptional.

I am representative.

I'm representative of the communities that I come from, the first generation Americans, the women of color, the kids raised by single moms, right?

The one in 30 teens in the U.S. who are experiencing hidden homelessness.

I am representative of the potential that exists within our communities when folks are given the opportunity to take control of their bodies and their future.

And for me, that started when I was 15 when I moved out of my mom's house and I looked around at the sex education I was receiving in my Arizona school district that was last updated in the '80s, that didn't mention consent, that was medically inaccurate, and I realized it was built to disadvantage young people like me, right?

It was taught by the baseball coach.

What's going on?

We need something better.

- Right.

- Yikes.

And so I started using my personal story, right?

Started going to school board meetings, and it was scary.

I remember the first time I ever did it, I had written it all out on a post-it note and my hands were shaking and I sat down and cried in the audience.

And it was really only a school board meeting of the 10 reporters that were paid and didn't even want to be there.

And after six months of showing up and telling my story and asking my peers to come along and do the same, we won a victory at that school board level and I never looked back.

And I started telling my story again and again.

And one of the pivotal moments for me was when I was 16, and my Republican Senator at the time, Jeff Flake, had voted to defund Planned Parenthood, essentially stripping birth control funding from Planned Parenthood, the same funding that I used to access birth control when I had no parents and no money and no insurance and I was living with my boyfriend out of need.

And I went to his town hall and I asked him, "Why are you as a white middle-aged man making these decisions about me and my life?"

And he told me this canned platitude about, "I support policies that support the American Dream."

And I asked him, "Why would you deny me the American Dream?

If birth control's helping me to be successful, to go onto higher education?” And I can sit here proudly and say that he didn't stand a chance because of advocates like me, because of the organizers I was around, because of folks who tell their stories.

I am now the first of my family to go to college.

I graduated from Columbia University in May on a full ride.

I went on to be one of the youngest presidential campaign staffers in history.

And that potential exists within our communities but we need the resources to really activate it.

- That's really something that comes up often on this show, which is that there's so much talent and so much potential.

And if you don't have the options and the opportunities to actually develop it, it's like it doesn't exist and it's just absolutely heartbreaking.

Aalayah, I want to ask you, because it was six years ago on Valentine's Day, you were in your Holocaust history class, and you heard what sounded like gunfire but you didn't think it was.

- No.

- Until your friend Nicholas Dworet, who was right in front of you started to fall and in death he saved your life.

- Yes, he did.

- What did that steal from you, that event?

- Honestly, my childhood.

I was a junior in high school and you don't imagine your high school experience turn into disaster and trauma and pain.

So it took my high school experience away from me.

It took my childhood away from me because after experiencing that, I now had to step into the world and share my story with the world and also share my platform with black and brown youth that look like me, that deal with gun violence on a disproportionate level but don't have the opportunities to share their stories because of where they're located in this country.

So it was a tough experience and something that I unfortunately had to experience but it created a new space to talk about gun violence prevention and it really fueled this country to do something about it.

- Because a month later after the event, you're at this massive rally, March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., and you're out there talking to a million people and seven months after that, you are testifying at the confirmation hearing of now Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

So you found your voice pretty, (chuckles) for somebody who, I think you said you were shy when you were- - I was very shy.

- Very shy.

- Yeah.

Not anymore.

- No.

- No, she's a force, okay.

Well, so what did activism give you back?

- It helped me find my voice like you said.

In my beginning experiences of high school, I went to a very affluent high school in a very rich white neighborhood, and obviously I am not white and I am not rich so I did feel like an outcast at my school at times.

I was often the only black girl in a lot of my classrooms so it didn't really feel like a safe space for me to share my opinions about topics or even just talk about things in class.

And after the shooting, it really opened my eyes and made me realize that I am important and I'm just as equal as my classmates that are sitting next to me in this classroom and I do deserve to have an opportunity to say my opinion.

And even if they don't want to hear it, who cares?

I'm going to say what I need to say.

So it really did help me find my voice and I'm really grateful for the opportunities that I have been given to speak at March for Our Lives and testify before Congress twice while I was all still in high school.

So those are great accomplishments and I'm very happy.

- So you've all found your voices.

And Danielle, I'm now going to go back to you to talk about, I want to just get into some obstacles that you may have faced in terms of doing the work that you're doing.

And again, Danielle, you've been very outspoken about the fact that even though conservatives and Republicans in great numbers think that we need more action on the climate front, let me put this delicately, the legislators are not reflecting that and you've really called them out.

They're not doing what you want them to do or what we need them to do.

So how do you do-?

- So I think the good news is- - Yeah, go ahead.

- Yeah, the good news is that slowly but surely we are seeing that change, not as rapidly as it needs to by any means, but I think that young people have been able to really exert political pressure and political power on our legislators.

81% of young Republicans believe that the climate is changing and that we need to do something about it.

And you are seeing that slowly reflected in Congress.

The Conservative Climate Caucus was a caucus founded by John Curtis.

And for those of you who aren't familiar with what a caucus is, it's basically a group of legislators who come together to discuss a certain topic or to legislate on a certain topic.

The Conservative Climate Caucus is the fourth largest caucus in the House of Representatives.

It has over 80 members, and so it's not where it needs to be but it is slowly improving and I think there's a lot of things to be hopeful for.

And it's more important now than ever for young people to continue using their voice and to continue pushing their legislators and showing where their priorities lie so that we will continue to see action on this issue.

- Well, I'm bringing this up now earlier than I had planned to because this whole notion that Gen Z can be a real political juggernaut at the ballot box and you all have the potential to really be this powerful constituency so far really hasn't been borne out by the numbers.

I mean, the last midterms, there was pretty good turnout because you had reproductive rights on a lot of ballots and you had climate and you had some racial justice issues.

But by and large, and I really want to go through and ask all of you this question, why don't young people vote?

I'll start with you, Danielle.

- Well I think young people don't realize yet the power that they have, and this goes back to one of the first things we talked about today, which is this idea of climate anxiety or climate apathy.

They are so overwhelmed by this issue.

They don't realize the power that they as an individual can make simply by voting.

You think about it in terms of, if every single young person in this room cares about an issue and says, "Oh, I can't make a difference," individually their vote probably won't swing an election, but collectively, everyone in this room, that's a lot of votes.

And I think that it's important to realize that when we all mobilize together, we have a lot of power.

And Gen Z just hasn't fully realized the power that their individual voice can have.

- Deja, what do you think?

- Voting is just one means of activating.

And in my personal toolbox, I see young people showing up in door knocking.

I see young people creating the content on the internet that is leading the narrative that traditional news is just struggling to keep up with, right?

I see young people uprooting their lives to go work on campaigns in a way that other generations have in the past as well when they were young.

I think young people have always been at the front of movements.

- Yes, true.

- And have always been the lifeblood, the people that are willing to make the sacrifices and show up and be idealistic.

And so I would push back a little bit and say that in large part it is the fault of our elected officials for not coming to meet us where we're at, for not giving us real leadership, right?

That they are not talking to us, they're not making good on the promises they have made to us and so they're going to have to earn our votes.

- But looking at the next presidential election which we all should be concerned about, there are recent polls out showing that specifically, Danielle, Republicans and independent youth are not planning to turn out in great numbers.

They're not as interested.

You're shaking your head so you've heard this.

And I guess the question also is, if climate's on the ballot, if reproductive rights are on the ballot, maybe that turns you out because you have an interest in it.

But what's on the ballot this time really is the strength of our democracy is part of what's on the ballot this time, as you know.

And so I'm just wondering again, in your organization, do you plan to try and motivate young Republicans to turn out?

- Well I think that two things can be true at once.

The first is that I think Gen Z needs to better understand the mechanisms of power they have in our political process.

And voting is a very powerful mechanism for them.

But the second is to the point that the other panelists were discussing, I think that politicians need to give young people a reason to turn out for them and they need to talk about the issues that young people care about.

And so when politicians don't speak about climate change or when they don't speak about reproductive rights or all these other things that young people have overwhelmingly shown that they care about, the onus is on them to look at their numbers and say, "Oh wow, young people didn't turn out for me.

I wonder why that is and I wonder how I can reach out to them."

- But look at gun safety, Aalayah, the stats all show that people overwhelmingly, it doesn't matter what party you belong to, this is not a political issue.

- It's not.

Climate shouldn't be a political issue.

And yet you have not been able to break through in terms of getting universal background checks, red flag laws, all kinds of things that people want.

And these are overwhelming numbers.

80, 90% of people want something done.

- Yeah, so gun violence is to me, unique because right now we live in a time where this issue is the leading cause of death for young people across the board for years.

Before it was a leading cause of death for black youth.

But now it is leading cause of death for everyone that is under the age of, I believe, 26.

So this is something that everybody cares about and everybody's very enthusiastic of talking about.

But I do think that it's important to also recognize that we have been seeing wins in the GVP space.

We now have a Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House, which is historic.

We have never, ever, ever in history had an Office for Gun Violence Prevention in the White House.

We have passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

So we are seeing things change, we are seeing things move, but again, like Deja just said, we live in a society, we live in a country where our democracy is broken.

So it is harder to get things like a universal background check or assault weapons ban passed when we have a number of people sitting in seats of power that don't care about young people and don't care about the blood that are on their hands when another school shooting or mass shooting happens.

- I want to ask about another obstacle that I found interesting Hadley, in your story, which was that your mother's described you as, "Everybody's sister, everybody's niece, everybody's daughter," and we all saw how persuasive you were in that ad.

Would it have been different if you were African American or Latina?

Do you think?

Would it have made a difference in terms of how that ad was received?

- As much as I wish I could say no, it wouldn't be, but yeah, it would've been different if it were an African American female on there or if it were somebody who was not white, all American, successful, just image of all the right things that people say you need to be and you need to do this.

Well, I look like all those things and this still happened to me.

So it is happening to everybody.

And I think that being able to use that in a positive way to get people to pay attention and get the conversations going that needed to be started was the best way that I could have used that to my advantage.

- Did you figure it out?

Did it surprise you, the reaction?

How did you pick up on that, that there was a double standard in terms of you being the face and putting the face and the name on that story?

- Well I just know that there are many people who, when you bring up sexual abuse or rape or incest, they just say, "Well that only accounts for X amount of abortions."

They bring up a statistic.

And I just wanted to put the face of somebody, I was a two sport high school athlete.

I went to college and played soccer.

I'm about to graduate now and still went through all that.

I was cheering with these people's kids and my teachers had no idea, I was never in trouble.

And all the signs that they say something's going on, - Were not there.

were not there.

And I think showing that to society is, this happens to regular people, this is real.

This is not just the movies, this is not just a what if situation.

- All right, let's at this point, go back to the strengths of what you're doing.

And Danielle, I want to go back to getting past labels, getting past stereotypes, getting past who we think people are.

And I did read a piece you wrote about hunting.

I did it honestly because I was preparing for this show.

I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise and I was like, you introduced so much new information that really is illustrative of how hunting plays a role in maintaining the natural world that I was surprised.

And what it illustrated to me was that in trying to change people's minds as activists, if you introduce new information, that is helpful.

Is that strategic?

And I'm sure it is probably, but you are aware you do that, right?

- Well, it's strategic in the sense that I was telling my story and I was being myself and I believed to be an effective advocate, you have to come authentically yourself to the table.

And so the piece that you're referencing was a love letter to my childhood and to the way that I grew up.

I grew up in a very rural, very small community.

Our population was like 300 on the town sign.

And hunting was a way of life for my community.

It's how families fed each other and it's how we maintained healthy populations of deer.

And I think that a lot of people, when they think of a hunter in their mind, they picture a very stereotypical image of someone decked out in camo and blaze orange, and they probably vote conservative or Republican, and they probably have all of these labels attached to them that may not be so flattering.

And that's just not the reality for a lot of people.

That's not the reality for the community that I grew up in, that I love.

And so being able to introduce where I came from and how I grew up as a different way of life that people may not have experienced before, I think is really helpful in understanding where people are coming from.

And when you understand where someone is coming from, you're better to able address things like policy.

It's been mentioned a few times on this panel that these issues aren't political.

And I agree that they're not political and they shouldn't be, but policy itself is.

And so if you can understand where people are coming from when they're shaping politics, that's really important for building common ground.

- I love that you keep saying Common Ground.

Deja, you are like the social media- I don't know what, goddess, and a lot of people think social media is not necessarily a force for so much good.

We had Francis Haugen on this show who was, the whistleblower- - Whistleblower.

- ... who talked about the algorithms that really promote negativity and low self-esteem and that sort of thing.

But you feel strongly that this is one of, well, it is clearly one of the great strengths of what you're trying to accomplish.

- Yeah, and when we look at my personal story, when we zoom in on that moment when I was 16 and working at a gas station and experiencing homelessness and overnight that exchange with my Senator went viral and millions of people saw it.

I was live on CNN, I went and lobbied on Capitol Hill, and it was in large part that access I had to so many people, right?

The platform that social media allowed me to stand on even footing with the United States Senator.

And so I think when I'm talking about the benefits of social media, what I'm talking about first and foremost is not these profit producing companies, but the way that we are using it, right?

The ways that we are transforming it to democratize who gets to be a storyteller, who gets to be at the front of the narrative, to create communities and bridges that have never existed before, right?

And I think in large part, it is teen girls that are at the forefront of that who'd never get the credit they're due for building these absolutely new strategies and new ways of existing, new ways of relating.

And I was brought into this work as an organizer, as a grassroots organizer and we have this idea of relational organizing, which means that if I care about something, the people who care about me will care about it.

And social media has given us an opportunity to talk to those people and to build large communities who care what we have to say, right?

To build platforms.

And because those people are bought into us, they're bought into what we believe too.

And so I think there's a great responsibility with that, but I think there's also a great opportunity.

But I'll end in saying that social media companies have a responsibility to protect young folks, particularly young girls and particularly young women of color.

- And they're not doing that?

- Certainly not.

They could be doing a whole lot better.

And I think as we see young people taking up positions of leadership, not just within government but especially, we'll see people who understand this landscape better.

We are the first generation of people to come of age on the internet, right?

We understand it in a way that our parents certainly do not.

Like the scene in a movie where someone slams the door and they're like, "Mom, you just don't get me," has never been more true.

But that applies also to our legislators, our congressmen, our senators who simply don't understand the ways that social media is shaping our lives.

And that digital violence is prevalent and affecting young girls in a way that we've never seen before.

- Did you ever watch those hearings where the legislators- - Yes.

- ... they had the tech companies and they were like, "I don't get that."

Yeah, you're right.

A little out of touch.

I think I did hear in reading about all of you, some grousing about, I shouldn't say it, but angry white men making all the decisions which I think you actually have made reference to.

Aalayah, something we haven't touched on with you is that this is also personal to you, the whole intersectionality of racial justice and gun violence.

Because when you were two years old, your Uncle Patrick, who was 18 at the time, was shot and killed.

- Yes.

- And what you had, you hinted at this earlier, a lot of people when they think about gun violence, they think in terms of mass shootings.

They don't think in terms of, as you said, disproportionately the way it affects black and brown communities.

How do you start to get that message out?

- Oh well, that's a very multi-layered topic.

But yes, I do understand this issue from two totally different perspectives.

I understand it from a mass shooting/school shooting perspective and also the perspective of inner city violence.

I lost my uncle to gun violence in Brooklyn.

My cousin just recently, three years ago was shot in Brooklyn.

Thank God he survived.

But clearly this is an issue that has been impacting my family for a while.

And I think when we're talking about the intersection of gun violence, we need to address all of the different layers within gun violence.

When people think of gun violence, like you said, they think of mass shootings or school shootings because that is what gets people to click on the news.

But we see in cities like Chicago or Birmingham, Alabama, in two days, they will see the same numbers of a mass shooting in a weekend in their city.

And these are the narratives and the topics that we need to be uplifting when we're talking about gun violence and also putting emphasis on police violence as well.

A lot of times people completely ignore the fact that police officers play a role in perpetuating gun violence in our communities as well.

So that is another topic that I feel like we need to be addressing.

Also we see gun violence impacting women, particularly women of color, in their relationships.

We see it in domestic violence situations.

We see it impacting a lot of our Jewish brothers and sisters at their synagogues.

We see this violence happening in so many different perspectives but I just feel like as a country and also our media, they do a very horrible job in the way that they talk about this issue.

And also the way that they talk about this issue when it impacts people that look like me because they're so quick to say a mass shooter that is a white man, "He has mental health issues, there's something happening to him."

But let it be a black man that just got shot, they will say that, "Oh, he's a gang member."

So we need to change how we're talking about people and the language that we use when we're talking about this issue is very important, especially in media.

- Go ahead.

- I want to say something to the question you asked earlier over here and here, which is that I think so much of our American narrative is that you have to earn these safeties, right?

That you have to earn bodily autonomy, you have to earn safety from gun violence, you have to earn clean water, right?

That these things are in some ways individual failings or failings of our minoritized communities and not a systemic failing and that to me is completely misleading.

And I think the example I'm going to give is particular to the abortion conversation.

But I really am a believer that if we rooted our narrative in that everybody, regardless of their situation is deserving of bodily autonomy because it is a human right, not because they have to earn it or have had something really terrible happen to them but because it is their right to own their body that we'd be in a very different place in this conversation.

I really feel that what we are at is a turning point.

And what we need to talk about, especially within this reproductive justice space, is about access.

Is about who we are centering and when we center the most marginal, how we are then uplifting everybody, right?

- I think the other is, and then I want to get to Danielle, but I wanted to ask Hadley something that goes to what you're talking about, which again goes to what people's misconceptions are about things.

You go to a Christian college and reproductive freedom is, I think arguably the most contentious issue in the country.

People get emotional and there's also religion involved.

Now you were quoted as saying that you're not pro-abortion, you're pro minding your own business.

- Yes.

I like that.

(laughing) - How does that go over?

- I think that spinning off what you just said, you don't have to earn your body.

You shouldn't have to.

But because we are in the situation that we are in, I did get on a political ad and say, "I went through this, this is why, you all don't understand.

Maybe you don't get it.

Here's another perspective.

Look at it this way."

And I think that a lot of times people will just say, well there's somebody that can help you take care of the child.

And at the time, my mom was in active addiction and I would've had nobody.

And you can't decide that for somebody else.

You can't look at every situation individually, at every detail and say, this is what you should do.

There's nobody on this planet that could do that.

No matter what place you hold an office, no matter where you're from, you cannot look at and decide that for somebody.

That's not your choice.

I just feel like every person, woman should have their choice if they want to do that.

What does that have to do with me?

That's nothing to do with my business.

The medical professionals that are trained and have the knowledge that they have, that people who are making these decisions are not educated in those areas and the woman who is making the choice, it's their business and it's simple as that.

It's just mind your business.

- Sounds pretty simple.

Actually, as I'm listening to all of you, I'm thinking, I wish that you were all in office.

Danielle, I'm going to go to you at this point because I read another one of your pieces about Canadian wildfires, and what jumped out at me was the quote I'm about to read.

"While natural disasters provide an easy opportunity to point fingers and place blame, our time is better spent pointing towards solutions.

Wildfires demand a departure from our usual rhetoric and echo chambers, urging us to explore approaches that consider the complexities at hand.

Luckily, the path forward," here's the key part, "is not about proving either side wrong.

Instead it lies in embracing the shared goal of finding practical, common sense solutions."

Well people don't like to be wrong, Danielle.

Maybe you have a different experience but there's a lot of vested interest in being right.

So we're getting sort of to the part of the broadcast where I want to talk about how you actually deal psychologically with other people in this way to try and find common ground.

- I think you're right.

People don't like to be wrong but they also like to grow and to improve and to become better.

And so in my very specific lane of bringing Republicans and Conservatives on board with climate action, I like to frame it as an opportunity for us to move forward as a party and to show that we are forward thinking and that we do meet the moment of the time and that we're willing to listen to the people around us and to the best science that we have available that says that climate change is a serious problem and we need to do something about it.

Now I think a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking that just because conservatives acknowledge climate change or believe in climate change means that they have to then support the Green New Deal or something similar to that.

And I think that's where conservatives have the opportunity to lead with their own unique solutions and to lead with solutions that are inherent to their values.

And there is a lot of common ground between where conservatives can lead there and where the left can lead there.

And I think that trying to avoid the labels of, okay, conservatives believe in this issue so now they have to embrace the solutions of the mainstream or the solutions of the left, that's not the case.

They can lead with their own unique solutions.

And it's less about whether they were right or wrong.

It's more about, okay, can they fix this problem that they are now acknowledging?

- As I said, she should be in office?

Are you thinking of ever running for office?

- I don't think that's in the cards for me.

I am very happy in my activism lane.

- All right, very very discreet.

Deja who's not exceptional in her...

I mean, by your own admission, you're not exceptional, you're representative.

Somebody out there is watching and saying, "Oh, come on, I could never do what she does."

Or any of our guests today.

What is the advice you would give to somebody who actually wants to make some kind of difference?

Doesn't have to be a big difference but something, what's the advice you'd give?

- Just tell folks to get personal.

To look at their life and see where it intersects with what they're seeing in the news or what they're hearing about in their communities and pick something.

Pick something you really care about and then craft your personal story.

Think about, "How can I share what is uniquely mine?"

Because one thing that each and every one of us has is a story.

And that's something that absolutely nobody else can replicate.

It's something that only you can share.

And so when you get personal and you think about the issues personally impacting you, you craft a personal narrative and then you take it one step further and you start sharing it with your personal network, those people who are invested in you, your parents, your friends, your neighbors, those people who are unique to you, right?

Not everybody has the same relationship to your mom that you do.

Not everyone has that relationship to the person you eat lunch with or that coworker.

And so when you really just start within your own sphere, to Danielle's point, your own lane, (chuckling) your own lane, I think we can really get ahead and see wins.

And I would caution folks as well as they start that journey to share the things that are uncomfortable but not unsafe because that bubble is going to continue to grow for you.

And I think each and every one of us here has been called to be a storyteller, right?

As young women, we've been pushed to the front of issues, thrown in front of large crowds and on the news.

And if I could give a piece of advice specifically to my younger self, it would be that, share what's uncomfortable but not unsafe.

- Oh, that's good.

That's a good question.

Let's ask Aalayah what she thinks.

What would you share with, in terms of, the bigger picture of trying to counsel somebody who really does want to do something?

Is there anything that you would do differently?

You're all so young.

I can't believe we're the younger activists.

(panelists chuckling) Yeah, really.

But is there something that?

- Not necessarily for me because again, my experience is a little different from the school that I came from.

I don't really look like a lot of my peers.

And again, when the shooting happened, I did not fit the narrative of what a Parkland survivor looked like on the news.

So I had to create my own platform.

I had to create my own space to share my story because unfortunately, the people that I went to school with and the people that were creating the space for a lot of people from my school to share their story did not include me or the people that were actually in the 1200 building, the building where the shooting actually took place and students of color, we were all excluded from that space.

So again, I had to create my own table.

So my experience is a little different and I'm so grateful I was able to create that space for myself because not a lot of people can but I do have advice for young people in general that do want to get involved.

For me, looking at my younger self, I always felt like advocacy was like testifying in front of Congress or being on an ad or making content for social media.

And that is all parts of advocacy and activism.

But you can create your own narrative of what advocacy looks like for you and your community.

It can be through music, it can be through art, it could be through literally anything.

It's creative, it could be what you want it to be and what you are missing in your space and your community and for your issue.

So I think for me, it's just emphasizing that advocacy does not have to look like us three, it could look like all of you here and what you want it to be.

- Hadley, what advice, I'm sure people come up to you and say, "How could you, I could never do that."

Don't they say that?

- Yes, all the time.

- Because you see somebody...

I mean, you've all been through some real adversity.

And basically when people see that and they see somebody handle it with resilience and grace, they think, "I could never do that."

The point is, you don't know what you can do until you have to do it, right?

But I think the other issue sometimes is people think they have to make major change.

They have to change the world.

It has to be headlines.

And so what do you say to people who want to get involved?

- I just say that I used to be you, I used to sit in my room and think, "Why can't I make something of this?

Why did this have to happen to me?

What can I do with it?

Why am I just left with this traumatic story?"

Or if it's something that's not a traumatic story, just something that's on your heart, think about that.

Get your passion and figure it out and then build your circle, build your people up.

And as you do that, you get more comfortable in what you're talking about.

You find yourself in your journey as you go.

And you really just figure it out.

I just started taking off September of 2023.

So that's really when I've started doing more interviews and stuff and really getting in front of cameras.

Before that, it was nothing that was very common to me.

And it just can start very slow and it's supposed to and you figure it out as you go.

There's no guide to it.

You make it your own and that's what makes it successful.

- Is it ever hard?

- Yeah, every day.

- Why?

- When you're talking about something personal, you are putting it out there.

You could look me up on the internet and you could find gruesome details.

I've had reporters come to me with gruesome details and say, "You said this in X report."

And I would say, "Yes, I did."

And then they spin off questions about that.

And people do get in your business.

But if not me, then who?

There's a little girl at home right now who needs that choice.

So if it takes me getting up here and getting hounded with questions or having to explain it even though I shouldn't have to, but having to explain it and putting it out there, spelling it out for the men especially, then that's just what you do.

- Danielle, we're at final question time which I can't quite believe but we are.

I think I want to ask you because I'm just so impressed by how your earthy sensibility and common sense seems to inform everything you do.

How do we get past the toxicity and the... this is an easy question.

How do we get past the toxicity and the partisanship and everything that seems to be just keeping us apart, instead of helping us to make stronger communities in a stronger country?

- Well, I wish I had an answer that worked for everyone, and that would just solve all of the problems we have in our political culture.

But all I can speak to is what works for me and for me that's looking beyond the labels that people ascribe to themselves and that you may ascribe to them and hearing about their stories, figuring out why they believe what they believe, where they're coming from, and seeing the humanity in the people that you're talking to because it's a hell of a lot easier to work together when you understand that that is somebody who has shared experiences with you, somebody who has disagreements with you but they are a person.

And because of that, they deserve your respect, they deserve your care, they deserve your compassion and your empathy.

- Aalayah, I want to ask you because I go back to that young girl who was playing the violin in Brooklyn, who, you?

- No, I just didn't know you knew that.

(laughing) - Oh, I know.

No, I find it so interesting.

I love to learn about people's stories.

And you were timid and you were not outspoken.

And now look at you, and what's the lesson?

- Lesson is your voice matters.

What you have to say matters.

And even if people don't want to hear it or don't give you the space to speak your mind, take that space and speak your mind.

It doesn't matter if they want to hear it, they need to hear it.

Especially if it's your story, your experience and something that is impacting you every single day, the world deserves to hear it and your voice matters.

- Hadley, after Governor Beshear won re-election, well he had a victory, you had a victory, a really exciting victory.

And we haven't really talked about how going through what you went through clearly had a downside in terms of what, you had to be wondering what people, you couldn't have a more personal story.

And so what are people thinking about me?

What are they saying?

What are they doing?

And you were named Homecoming Queen.

- I was.

You got a tiara and everything.

- Yes.

- Not everybody can say that.

What did that mean to you?

- It was very special because I had actually had a conversation with my mother before, and I had said, my ad has been out for a couple months.

Really, people have started to see it.

The questions had really started to come in, and I was just really nervous to even be up there.

And I go to a small Christian school and you never know what side people are going to agree with and that's a risk I knew I was taking.

So I was just trembling, like, I hope everybody doesn't hate me after this.

And then I was voted Homecoming Queen.

So it was really special.

- And you got a lot of support from those kids?

- Yes.

- So if you had a do-over, no question, you would do it again.

- Every time.

- Deja, you're the closer here today.

- No pressure.

- No pressure (chuckles).

I want to go back to this voting thing, all right?

Because I understand that you don't have the incentive to go out there, right?

But it's kind of a chicken egg thing.

What's going to change unless you do go out there and vote?

You're looking skeptical but the point is, do you try to convince people to vote or not so much?

- I worked on a presidential campaign so you could say that I was convincing people to vote in the most exclamatory sense but I can speak from my personal experience that I know people have fought and won the right for me to vote.

That it is one tool in my toolbox and that it is the least I can do to create a movable landscape to make organizers lives easier so they can create change on the issues that really impact us.

But electoral politics is not the end all, be all of change-making work.

- Right, no, we acknowledge that.

We stipulate to that.

Go ahead.

- But I'll go one step further to say that we've seen abortion rights legislated away, right?

Taken away from us via our judiciary.

And what I am looking toward in this opportunity, which is a hard moment in the reproductive justice space, is that we are now given an opportunity to fill the gaps that we had missed and say, how do we put access before legality?

How do we create community centered solutions that can't be wiped away come election season.

And so I'm really challenging people not to let their advocacy stop with voting but to let it go one step further and ask them, "How can you create change within your community beyond just electoral cycles?"

- I have one really quick question for you- - Okay.

- ... because when I interviewed you three years ago, You said you were going to be the first Gen Z president, or you wanted to be the first Gen Z president.

I just wondered if it's still on your wish list.

- I still sit here in front of you and say that I plan to be president one day, right?

- You plan to be?

I don't just want to, I plan to.

And when we look at some of our past presidents, where were they when they were 23?

Were they doing this work?

Were they as deeply involved as I am?

And the answer is no.

And so then the question is, why not me?

- We're going to leave it hanging.

What do you think?

I think that's a good place to wrap it up because we're going to go to our silver lining.

Before we do that, I still think you should all run.

And that's all I'm going to say.

But we are going to the silver lining, which today features two more young change makers.

One of California's largest wildfires forced 12-year-old Reshma Kosaraju and her classmates to wear a mask to ward off the noxious smoke.

Determined to find a solution to the problem by the time she was 15, Reshma had developed a way to use artificial intelligence to predict forest fires.

Her system is nearly 90% accurate, and now at age 17, she's transforming it into an app that's accessible globally.

Finally, meet Miles Fetherston-Resch, who at age six founded Kids Saving Oceans, a nonprofit that sells clothing and accessories made from recycled or sustainable materials.

All proceeds go to causes that support clean waterways.

Now at the ripe old age of 10, Miles has a goal to raise $1 million by the time he turns 18.

What advice does he have for want to be activists?

"If you have an idea, go for it," he says.

"The worst thing you can do is have it not work out.

And that's not a loss."

We're grateful to our extraordinary guests for their insights and inspiration, to you out there for joining us today.

Until we see you back here next time, from the Frederick Gunn School in the other Washington, Washington, Connecticut, for Common Ground, I'm Jane Whitney.

Take care.

(bright upbeat music) (cheery violin music) (bright upbeat music)