What Our Kids Have to Teach Us About Money

Last week, I wrote a little piece about using college savings funds as an opportunity to teach our children about the two economies in our midst. In this piece I will share a story about what our children have to teach us. Like many kids, my daughter Kaylin had a small savings account from the time she could walk. When she started getting an allowance, she divided her weekly allotment between that which she’d spend, that which she’d share with others, and that which she’d save.

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Around the JEM World in Thirty Days—Learning More about Living the Sustainable Economic Model Called Jubilee

The 30-Day Immersion into the world of Jubilee Economics seems to be a winner. Instead of getting buried in the blog, we decided to make a page out of it so it would be readily available. So if you’re bold, drop in and spend a month to get to know all about Jubilee Economics—the organization and the alternative model we stand for.

Acting with Strength for Earth in the Midst of Not-Knowing

It’s been one week since my 320 mile journey from Fortuna, CA ended safe and soppy at San Francisco’s City Hall. Since then, with all of you in mind, I’ve been trying to piece together a synopsis of the event—a couple of cleanly written, succinct and inspiring paragraphs to summarize the success of our activism and the mission we accomplished.

Much to my own confusion, I can’t.

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Solidarity with Occupy: Move Our Money from Banks-too-Big-to-Fail

You may want to pack your tent and join those camping out. Or, perhaps joining in decisions about which actions Occupy can take that are most strategic to the democratic work of the 99% suits you better. Another possibility is to move your bank account to a credit union or locally-owned bank if you’re still banking at Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, or any of the few hundred banks that brought us to the 2008 crisis, were bailed out, and now are making profits in trading derivatives and speculating on currencies and markets rather than helping small businesses create jobs.

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UCC Does Lent, JEM Style

The Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ—deep in old Congregationalist territory—has decided to practice a “carbon fast” for the season of Lent, starting in early March. The links on their page didn’t work for me, but I can imagine what might go into the effort. The obvious component is to drive less and drive more wisely when that is an inevitability. I didn’t see anything about refraining from the use of home heating fuel, but that would indeed be a bold statement if I have any clue about the temperature in Massachusetts in the winter. (You gotta forgive me about the weather thing. I have this Ivory Tower called California from which I pontificate!) And it might just be the kind of bold statement that UCC has traditionally liked to make in a long history of progressive action.

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Less is More

In the time after September 11, 2001, I was beginning to understand myself as part of a larger world. Rather than go to sleep the next day, I was beginning an awakening. At the age of 27, nearly 28 then, I was on time with having my worldview radically revised.

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