To remain under 1.5°C warming, the Clock shown above tells us how much time we have left
to make a transition off of fossil fuels and to change other habits contributing to climate disaster.
2011 — 390.9 ppm CO2 in atmosphere
2023 — 421 ppm CO2 in atmosphere
To make Earth unlivable for next generations, we need only to keep doing exactly what we’re doing.
To learn what you can do, we invite you to read and consider signing our OneEarth Jubilee Covenant.
In 2000, a group of us began a nonprofit, 501(c)3, organization, inspired to action after reading the book by Ross and Gloria Kinsler, The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life. The influence of Latin America has been integral from our start, and today we are focused in four Jubilee Circles, one in the U.S., three in Mexico—San Diego, California; San Cristobal, Chiapas; Tapachula, Chiapas; San Mateo, Puebla.
We also join in ministry with Simple Living Works and Faith & Money Network.
“We have a profound personal commitment to Jubilee Economics Ministries, (JEM). It was conceived and delivered in our home in Chicago, a community we shared with Lee and Juanita Mangan-VanHam. Following it’s growth and development through the ensuing years has been exciting. As JEM continues to mature and expand, especially in Mexico, we are provided with a concrete example of how we can work together across economic, social, and cultural boundaries which sometimes feel impenetrable. We are learning together how to live a fulfilling life on one earth.”
— Grace and Tom Gyori
We Invite You to Sign the OneEarth Jubilee Covenant
The covenant practice we’re currently emphasizing: Our Food Choices.
Here’s a link directly to a pdf guide for this practice.
Today the dominant ways of living exceed the resources of our planet—a full 1.7 planets is required. Let’s call it MultiEarth! The natural world is raging against these excesses. We call them “natural disasters” and thus escape taking responsibility for the evils of MultiEarth living.
A transforming spiritual response to MultiEarth’s illusions of living beyond the planet’s capacities is living with them—OneEarth living. Committing to OneEarth wisdom shapes life according to how creation functions—interdependence of all beings and sufficient abundance for all within creation. Jesus lived by this worldview (Luke 4:18-19) and called us out (ekklesia) of the MultiEarth worldview of autocracies and superpowers, calling us to follow his way instead.
Our work is primarily three-fold: (1) Education, (2) Reaching out to others to be part of the OneEarth Jubilee movement, and (3) Organizing activities.
The work emanating from our Jubilee Circles is described in a small 64-page book entitled simply, Jubilee Circles: Help Save Life on the Planet. It is available in English and Spanish.
More specifically, our actions include:
We see abundance where others see scarcity and austerity. We see promise and vitality in the bounty of living within the limits of what economic activity can be done on One Earth, rather than living as if there were many earths to do our business.
The Manna Jar is a core symbol of Jubilee Economics because it comes from a story when people learned to live creation-based lives instead of empire-based lives (see Exodus 16). The story of manna in the wilderness is not about the miracle of some kind of bread showing up mysteriously every morning— as commonly taught. It is far more radical. It presents conversion from using more than our share to sharing in common. Conversion from thinking that making astute economics decisions to get more money and more power are most important, to economic thinking of enough for all living beings, and living within our planet’s abundance. The manna story puts spiritual Presence at the heart of daily economic practice, which is to say, there is a spiritual energy at work in the universe to provide life for all beings when we live a creation-based economy and paradigm.
So looking at the Manna Jar, how do we answer questions like: How can we survive without industrial agriculture? How can we live apart from the urban environments where resources and power are centered? What does creation-centered living look like? Is it living in perpetual scarcity and austerity? Is there ever abundance? How can we live with enough when the economy aiming for endless growth shapes us for more? Does greed really have to sabotage caring and sharing?
(You can get a Manna Jar for $30 plus shipping.)
Click to read an article by Paul Taylor and Lee Van Ham, “How Much Is Enough? The Living Symbol of the Manna Jar,” published in the May 2020 newsletter of Faith and Money Network, Washington, D.C.