We’re often asked, “How can I practice OneEarth Jubilee living today?” Today we offer a covenant that contains many key practices of such living. You may already be doing all of these practices or only some of them. By knowing that others are also taking these actions for personal and social change, it energizes all of us. OneEarth Jubilee living cannot be done alone. It requires the empowerment of the Spirit and relies on interdependence with others.
At the end of the covenant, we invite you to sign it and return it. This will indicate you are joining with others in acting on these items in the year ahead. We also invite you to suggest changes.
How thrilled I was to receive JEM’s new covenant. It is the perfect balance of unlearning, relearning and action. There is such a void for pieces that ask us to look at our relationship with money. JEM’s covenant does this in such important ways—focusing on consumption, giving AND investment. Thank you for inviting people to divest from fossil fuels. It is a great entryway and one that fits with the other commitments. My hope is that as people unlearn and relearn, there will be room later on to extend the covenantal invitation to divest from the whole of Wall Street, and to reinvest in community investments. —Scott Klinger
ONEEARTH JUBILEE COVENANT for the 2020s
Given the crises of the 2020s in which many systems are unraveling, and given the pain this is creating for tens of thousands of people and species, we are in a special decade for a broad embrace of the OneEarth Jubilee worldview, spirituality, and practices.
We see increased interdependence and cooperation with one another as vital for lives and societies to live in OneEarth Jubilee ways. Recognizing what OneEarth living requires of us, we recognize that the Presence of the Divine Spirit and Creator among us is essential.
With these thoughts, we invite you to sign the following covenant, renewable once a year.
- Banking—In a finance world where mega-banks finance ecologically destructive projects and are protected from failing, I will use a local bank, credit union, or community development financial institution (cdfi) for my transactions.
- Cooperatives—In a global economy shaped by transnational corporations, I will shape my life around cooperatives and local businesses as much as possible.
- Eating—In a global, unstable, industrial food supply system, I will buy from the most local suppliers, from local growers, from farmers markets, and grow some of what I eat. I will eat a largely plant-based diet, low-meat, avoid sodas, and drink clean water and regional beverages.
- Over-consuming—Given that the growth economy depends on over-consuming, I will learn the joy of living with what I perceive to be a just and fair share of what Earth supplies.
- Footprint—Given that 2030 is the date by which our lives and societies need to be reshaped to fit our planet, I will calculate the ecological footprint of my household through an online calculator (e.g., Nature Conservancy or Global Ecological Footprint) and take every step I can to reduce its size to fit our one planet. Recognizing we are part of nature, I will offset the impact of my household and participate in tree planting projects and other projects that ally with nature’s resilient ways.
- Debt—Given that money enters the economy through bank loans (meaning debt), I will use no more than two credit cards and pay them off each month. Debt owed me that cannot be paid, I will forgive after no more than seven years. If possible, I will join or help form a local chapter of a debt forgiving organization (e.g., Debt Collective).
- Investing—If I have investments, I will withdraw funds from fossil fuel entities and all others that are engaged in injustices.
- Justice-giving—I will plan to give of my financial resources to causes that honor Creation’s ways, the work of justice, and the work of OneEarth Jubilee in the Mexico Circles and my hometown.
To sign an electronic version of the Jubilee Covenant, click here.
To download a printable PDF version of the Jubilee Covenant, click here.
I will also consider:
- structuring my gross income to live on no more than 80%, saving and sharing the rest;
- re-think, reduce, re-use, re-cycle as much as possible;
- travel with vehicles that protect the air we breathe and are as ecologically responsible as I can afford.
We’d love to connect with you. If you’d like to get in touch about some of the points, please contact us through john@jubilee-economics.org or 619-354-6255.
Sample of Jubilee Biblical Texts
- Leviticus 25:8-12
- Isaiah 61:1-4
- Luke 4:16-21
