Director/Producer: Jim Merkel

Description:

Saving Walden’s World follows former arms dealer Jim Merkel, who experiences an ethical crisis after realizing his work harms families abroad. Embarking on a decades-long journey of redemption, Jim raises his son Walden–a budding scientist–in an off-the-grid homestead. He wonders: could the very people his past life targeted hold the keys to a sustainable planet? A journey into “enemy” territory ensues, meeting powerful women who reshape society to work for all. Far from affluent utopias, Kerala, Cuba and Slovenia are decades ahead in progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, offering women free college, contraception, maternity leave, childcare, dentistry and healthcare–services unimaginable in much of Jim's blue-collar America.

Biography:

Jim Merkel is an author, filmmaker and sustainability educator based in Belfast, Maine. A former military systems engineer, Merkel transitioned to environmental advocacy and founded the Global Living Project in British Columbia to develop frameworks for measuring human impact on the biosphere. He later served as the first sustainability coordinator for Dartmouth College. Merkel directed the documentary Saving Walden's World, profiling communities decades ahead in progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Kerala, India's Kudumbashree—a 4.5-million-member women's micro-finance cooperative. He also authored Radical Simplicity, a foundational text endorsed by Bill McKibben and Howard Zinn.

Contact Information:

e: jimimerkel@gmail.com 
w: savingwaldensworld.org