New Year, New Hopes

This is the charged, the dangerous moment, when everything must be re-examined, must be made new, when nothing at all can be taken for granted.
— James Baldwin

In many spiritual traditions, the concept of 'planting seeds' is about doing good in the present for the possibility of a healthy and nourishing future. It is about having hope that the work we do now will be beneficial to many in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.

This is the sentiment from which our name, Seed Room Consulting, came. We want to plant seeds of knowledge with the expectation that they will sprout into for liberatory action. We want to maintain the hope that the work we do today, will result in a better future.

And at this moment, we all need hope desperately. As we enter 2026, the world looks more bleak and dangerous than it has in a long time. The United States has just illegally invaded Venezuela and kidnapped their leader and his wife, continuing a long tradition of American interference in South America, and further destabilizing the world. While the genocides in Gaza and Sudan continue, the people of Congo suffer and die for Western resource extraction, and countless others in Haiti, Kashmir, and Myanmar endure the brutal weight of imperial projects.

It can be easy to lose hope. Yet, we must have hope.

I am often reminded of James Baldwin's words on despair and hope. In an interview he is asked: “Are you still in despair about the world?” He replies:

I never have been in despair about the world. I’ve been enraged by it. I don’t think I’m in despair. I can’t afford despair. I can’t tell my nephew, my niece. You can’t tell the children there’s no hope.

You can't tell the children there's no hope.

When we plant seeds we plant not just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of future generations. We imagine the fruitfulness of our efforts and the nourishment of the outcomes. For their sake, we must have hope and we must work toward a better future.

Robin D.G. Kelley, in his book Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, explains the history of the Black radical tradition, mainly in the United States. This comprehensive and essential read highlights, among many things, the importance of imagining a better world and working toward it. It is clear from his recounting of the revolutionaries and their struggles, that hope was an essential ingredient in their work. Hope enabled the imagining.

This is why we do what we do - this is the work of planting seeds. The daily work of consulting, teaching, and learning are the practical tools we use to plant and water these seeds. If you want to see the tools, meet our teachers, and engage with the gritty, hopeful work of cultivation, we welcome you to follow along and build with us.