Today marks the dawn of a new regime in Washington, DC — one led by a president, party, and political establishment who seem not merely indifferent but actively hostile to many of the ideals that define our impact space. At a time when climate-stoked destruction has ravaged Asheville, the broader U.S. Southeast, and much of Los Angeles, the first actions of this administration will be to push for expanded fossil fuel production in the name of “sane” energy policy. It is hard to imagine a more glaring refusal to acknowledge reality — or, one might say, a more tragic refusal to see the forest for the burning trees.

Image Courtesy of Brett Davis – Flickr

In response, some in our field are lying low, afraid of becoming targets of executive, legislative, or judicial actions. Others—banks, corporations, even philanthropies — have found their “commitments” to DEI, ESG, or sustainability as pliable as a poplar in changing winds. This moment lays bare an uncomfortable truth: too many of our most powerful institutions have embraced social and environmental values only superficially. Like facades quickly stripped away by a harsh winter storm, these recent reversals reveal deep fragilities and a lack of moral integrity.

One important element that’s missing, as one of our editorial committee members aptly noted, is a conversation about the moral limits of the marketplace. As Michael Sandel’s work reminds us, there are some things money cannot buy — democracy, hope, love, community, cooperation. Despite powerful pushback against ESG and DEI, and alongside renewed efforts like COP30, the impact sector still too often relies on the benevolence of investors and a seemingly all-powerful financial system. Yet so much of what our communities truly need — sacrifice, compromise, care, and mutuality — cannot be reduced to a cost-benefit ratio. They are the lifeblood of functioning democracies, a truth underscored by the work of Robert Putnam and Elinor Ostrom.

Perhaps the greatest impact any of us can make in 2025 (and beyond) is to step outside the transactional comfort zones of markets and metrics, and instead meet one another in real time — across economic chasms, across geography and ideology — to do the quiet, essential work of building trust, solidarity, and resilience. These intangibles may never be monetized, but they undergird every healthy society. Like the roots of a thriving forest, they connect and sustain us, ensuring that no gust of political wind, however fierce, can easily uproot our collective future.

— The Editors