Earth Converse Seedbank: Wealth Beyond Money

A key survival strategy: store what you have.  Chipmunks stash acorns, we preserve jams and seeds. And we deposit currency in banks, preserve reproductive futures in cryobanks and bury gold in vaults. Storage is a hedge against uncertainty. 

Now, there’s the life-affirming Earth Converse Seedbank. More of a commons than a vault. It is protection from disconnection and a reminder of the wealth of life that is here. 

Daily metaphorical seeds  — ideas, practices, and moments designed to reconnect us with ourselves, each other and the earth that is our home. 

Here at the 150th seed, it is a chance to invite a deeper reflection on what it truly means to bank, and to be wealthy.

What Are We Really Banking On?

In facilitating a leadership programme for a global bank, I remember a senior leader opening with brutal honesty:

“People like banking. But now they don’t like banks.”

That line stuck with me — as has the reality that the financial sector remains prone to scandal, short-termism, and public distrust. If our institutions are to evolve into sustainable, regenerative forces, they must undergo a radical reimagining — one grounded in values, trust, and integrity.

I say this not from a distance, but as someone entangled in the contradictions. My relationship with money is uneasy — a tug-of-war between survival and soul. As a regenerative coach, I’ve wrestled with financial precarity even while rooted in privilege. I can still “bank on” the love and support of a safety net — many cannot. And I see the rising prevalence of GoFundMe campaigns for basic needs, as a sign of systemic failure.

In reckoning with my beliefs about wealth, I have wanted to name the systems behind them — capitalism, colonialism, militarism, extraction. So another line that has stayed with me – Mario Puzo in The Godfather:

“Where there is money, there is blood.”

Vaults of Value

Nature stores seeds for winter.  Us humans take storage to a whole new level.  We take great pains to pain the earth in our extraction of this precious metal, to then bury it again in underground vaults. 

Yet there are other vaults — more sacred, less extractive. Banks that are more life-affirming like the seed banks around the world (like Svalbard, Millennium, India) quietly preserve biodiversity for a future we may not see. They are humanity’s collective collapse buffer.  

The story of the Institute of Plant Genetic Resources in Leningrad during WWII touched me: scientists starved to death rather than consume the seed reserves they were safeguarding. That is reverence. That is stewardship.

A Broader Definition of Wealth

Nature teaches us of the immense potential of a seed. And reminds us that seeds are designed to be scattered. And that they need a fertile base to start. Likewise as humans we need our basic needs met and why I am a fan of universal basic income.

And it is the broader definition of seeds, of wealth, I find to be particularly empowering.

Just like on the relatively new ATMOS podcast The Nature Of, with Willow Defebaugh, where Steph Speirs, recalls her mother’s wisdom:

“Wealth is what people cannot take away from you in hard times. Your time, your relationships, your knowledge in body, spirit, and mind.”

This resonates deeply.   Not to ignore the poverty that so much of the world suffers from (nor the extreme wealth – which well, is ignored like in the Sustainable Development Goals) but to offer perspectives, potential and possibilities. 

Earth Converse Seedbank: A Commons, Not a Vault

With a wider view of seeds and wealth, the Earth Converse Seedbank was born — a repository of regenerative ideas, micro-practices, and reflections. Not locked away, but offered freely, as seeds in the wind.

Inspired by over 25 years of working with leaders and my creations like the Earth Converse Podcast (still in the top 1% globally), I committed to posting one seed a day throughout 2025. These are short videos — often under 5 seconds — posted and stored on YouTube with the hashtag #earthconverseseeds.

These are daily invitations to reconnect with life.  Prompts as you scroll to pause, notice, feel into, reflect on, experiment with.  

Some are playful (eating almond blossom directly from the tree, practising my Artemis moves..), some moving (the practice of living and dying, flowing like a river…), some contemplative (who are you caring for, what is the more-than-human world mirroring back to you… ). All are designed to stir connection. 

Are they just more noise in the digital void? I ask myself that every so often. But then I remember: these are not posts. They are life-affirming seeds. If even one moment invites someone to stop and connect with the wealth of life that is here — then it is worth sharing. Who knows who will nurture it. 

What Are You Seeding?

And to widen the perspective, if you are in a position of influence — as a CEO, a leader, a changemaker — you are already seeding something. Culture, norms, values, stories. Whether consciously or not.

The question is not if you are planting seeds. It is what kind, and to what end.

Are they in service of people and planet?

Life is the ultimate seedbank – the #earthconverseseeds are here to remind you of that.

We will continue to drop seeds virtually and in person, and as long as YouTube exists, the Earth Converse Seedbank will be there for you. I hope these seeds land gently with you. And that they prompt your own inquiry and exploration. And perhaps — that one tiny seed might take root within you, and in time, be passed on.