Tending the roots
January 23, 2025
On the windowsill of my office sits a glass pot full of narcissus bulbs. I planted the bulbs in early January and brought them to the office when we returned from the holiday break. Over the past few weeks, I have delighted in watching bright green shoot upward and, yesterday, the first flowers opened towards the bright morning sun.
However, my favorite part of these treasured office guests is the surprise benefit of their growth occurring in a clear glass pot: I can see the roots.
Over the past weeks, as I have worked alongside the incredible team here at ACTT on the many projects you will find captured below, I have watched the gorgeous long, white roots spread and lengthen. It is really incredible to consider the power in these roots, their ability to nourish such rapid and fervent growth above the soil while also bringing stability to what are ultimately quite tall plants.
Over the past few days, we have watched as our new administration attempts to obliterate years of climate work at the federal level: programs in technical assistance, projects under development, networks of collaborators, and so much more. We have imagined what it must feel like for colleagues at the federal level. It’s particularly unreal to witness this unfolding one just after the wildfires in Los Angeles made very clear the increasing impacts of climate change.
In our staff meeting this week, as we discussed the loss of federal programs that took so much time and resources to build, I found myself thinking about the narcissus roots in my office and the many species of plants that can regrow from roots alone. While the new administration will assuredly attempt to cut through all the above-ground climate progress they can reach, substantial roots remain.
Just how much growth will be cut and what exactly will happen with the remaining roots are the big questions and where we must take up our agency. In our staff meeting, we also discussed the role of anger right now. While we are not surprised by the rapid fire delivery of promises made by the new administration, we are very angry. We are parents and we are young people and we are furious to see the future of life on this planet traded for the unfathomable wealth of a few. And, as I shared with my team, while I recognize that this anger is entirely appropriate and even very useful, I also know that, for me at least, it is not sustainable unless I can channel the energy involved into something productive.
Personally, I’m looking to channel anger and the many other emotions I’m experiencing into ferocity. May we be fiercely creative, fiercely active, fiercely collaborative, fierce builders of community and vision and solutions. While challenges abound, so too do opportunities to be creatively effective, to build upon roots that exist, to make innovative, necessary curves and detours in our growth, but to keep growing, spreading towards the sun.
In community,
Johannah Blackman
Executive Director