This is such a thought-provoking reflection, Nicole. I love your quotations arguing that effective leadership requires us to acknowledge gaps, mistakes, and competing interests

I'm interested, too, in the tension in between arguments for personal responsibility, and for systemic change - and agree that both are necessary, and that over indexing on either one seems to lead to overwhelm and anxiety.

There is a quote by Anne-Marie Bonneau that I feel encapsulates this idea so well:

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”

I feel this applies to all the "personal" parts of sustainability and climate - we need to broaden awareness, accept our own imperfection, and welcome other just-as-imperfect people, in order to create meaningful change.