Experiencing Interruptions?

Saving Walden's World


“As a former engineer working on weapons, his words have a special power.”
-- Howard Zinn, Historian

THE FILM
When a young arms dealer discovers his work is harming families in less affluent societies, he has an ethical crisis and begins a decades-long journey to redeem himself and make the world a better place. SAVING WALDEN’S WORLD is a revealing new film following Jim Merkel as he raises Walden, a budding scientist, in an off-the-grid homestead and wonders: could the very people his past-life’s work 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 offer women free college, access to contraception, maternity leave, childcare, dentistry and healthcare. Services unimaginable in much of Jim’s blue-collar America.

As earth temperatures soar, the stakes couldn’t get higher.

WHY THIS FILM
Immerse yourself in this intimate father-son exploration of a global shift, where personal and collective decisions about procreation and consumption ripple through generations, resulting in fewer yet healthier children. Land reform and literacy movements offered a route out of poverty. Our inspiring film spotlights the dividends of decades of policies towards social justice.

As population pressures ease driven by the empowerment of women and education, we encounter a stark reality. Many nations are manipulated by a fear of economic decline and attempt to coerce more consumption and births. Could this jeopardize the very progress women are making towards averting the 6th extinction?

  • James S Merkel
    Director
    Radically Simple (subject)
  • Deborah Shaffer
    Director
    The Wobblies
  • Santhi Rajasekhar
    Producer
  • Catherine Murphy
    Producer
    Maestra: Cuba's Literacy Campaign
  • Robert Maraist
    Producer
    Off the Grid by Morgan Spurlock and American Standoff by Barbara Kopple.
  • Dan Rae Warren
    Writer
    Moon Shot
  • Jason Rosenfield
    Writer
    Blues Highway
  • Karen Everett
    Writer
    El Susto, Below the Belt, Crossing Bhutan
  • Mickey Green
    Editor
    Minutes to Die
  • Nevie Owens
    Editor
    Dream is Destiny
  • Robert Maraist
    Cinematographer
    American Standoff
  • David Wright
    Cinematographer
    The Boys Who Said No
  • J Devika
    Key Cast
    Feminist Scholar, Center for Development Studies
  • Dr. Thomas Isaac
    Key Cast
    "Finance Minster of Kerala"
  • T.N. Seema
    Key Cast
  • Usha Nair
    Key Cast
  • Dr. Ramankutty
    Key Cast
  • Indira Ramakrishna Pillai
    Key Cast
  • Mavis Dora Alvarez
    Key Cast
    Agronomist, Specialist in Land Reform and Gender
  • Dr. Leidy Casimiro Rodríguez
    Key Cast
  • Dr. Lusay Andrade Miranda
    Key Cast
    Family Doctor, Soplillar Clinic
  • Gaja Brecelj
    Key Cast
    Director UMANOTERA
  • Dr. Vesna Leskošek
    Key Cast
    Dean of Postgraduate Studies
  • Živa Kavka Gobbo
    Key Cast
    President, FOCUS
  • Walden Merkel-Cutting
    Key Cast
    The star, mad scientist, YouTuber and electric guitarist
  • Susan Cutting
    Key Cast
    Community organizer who has worked in environmental policy & citizen diplomacy (Russia)
  • James S Merkel
    Key Cast
  • Chavely Casimio Rodríguez
    Key Cast
  • Mihelca Obrovnik
    Key Cast
  • Norma Guillare Reina
    Key Cast
  • Jennifer J Mayer
    Finishing Editor
    We Said No! No!: A Story of Civil Disobedience
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 28 minutes 54 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 26, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    418,793 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Cuba, India, Slovenia, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD 1080p
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Puerto Aventuras International Film Festival Puerto Aventuras International Film Festival
    Puerto Aventuras
    Mexico
    April 24, 2024
    Audience Choice
  • Crown Wood International Film Festival
    Kolkata, West Bengal
    India
    February 25, 2024
    Winner, Documentary
  • FIVE CONTINENTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
    Puerto la Cruz
    Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
    February 4, 2024
    Winner, Documentary Feature
  • Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    January 25, 2024
    Honorable Mention
  • Love & Hope International Film Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
    September 17, 2024
    Selected
Distribution Information
  • James Merkel
    Country: United States
Director Biography - James S Merkel, Deborah Shaffer

Jim Merkel, Director, Producer is an author and educator that moved from top-secret military engineering to pioneering in sustainability. His book, "Radical Simplicity" has been used as text in hundreds of university classes. Jim authored a chapter in "Bending the Arc," by SUNY PRESS which highlighted this film’s larger goals. A 2005 Jan Cannon Film, "radically simple" track Jim's work as Dartmouth College's Sustainability Coordinator. In 1994 Merkel received an Earthwatch Gaia Fellowship to research efficient resource use in Kerala, India, and visited communities in the Himalayas. The following year he founded the Global Living Project (GLP) in British Columbia where teams of researchers monitored ecological footprints. He and his partner Susan Cutting and their child Walden grow much of their food and live off-the-grid in a home they built from oaks and pines from their land in Belfast, Maine.

Deborah Shaffer, Director, Interviewer (Cuba), Executive Consultant is an Academy Award winning filmmaker who began making social issue documentaries as a member of the Newsreel collective in the ‘70’s. She co-founded Pandora Films, one of the first woman’s film companies. She directed THE WOBBLIES which premiered at the prestigious New York Film Festival in 1979 and was restored in 2022. During the 80’s Shaffer focused on human rights in Central America and Latin America, directing many films including WITNESS TO WAR: DR. CHARLIE CLEMENTS which won the Academy Award for Short Documentary in 1985. Her films FIRE FROM THE MOUNTAIN and DANCE OF HOPE played at the Sundance Film Festival. She directed and produced TO BE HEARD, which won awards at numerous festivals and aired nationwide on PBS. She's received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award by the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. In 2023 Deborah received the Lifetime Achievement Award at DOCNYC along with Michael Moore.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

“Jim Merkel offers a special mix of practicality and idealism; a workable mix.”
-- Bill McKibben | climate activist | author

A father & educator must ease the angst of planetary doom while staring it in the face. The narrative device “I was for all that stuff, until I was in it” cements the POV. Jim’s conservative dad stood against racism, now he stands for the planet. Both were wounded by war. ”Mom started a childcare center, braided rugs from thrift store wool and gave all nine children seeds and a vegetable plot.”

An olive branch to the RED STATE/BLUE STATE divide.

The film’s forward-moving vérité arc is a playful cultural immersion while learning FROM the many women leaders encountered. The film’s 3 Act structure is: military engineer to eco-zealot to feminist, father and teacher. The film’s ”train” includes farm carts, bikes and vintage cars discovering surprisingly seductive solutions advanced by powerful women.

The 1987 Iran Contra hearings exposed how the KL-43 I’d help design was used by Ollie North to illegally arm dictators favorable to US business interests. In 1989 T.V. coverage of EXXON Valdez oil spill flooded a bar-room screen in Stockhlom while marketing the KL-43.

“I began questioning everything.“

Along the way I wrote “Radical Simplicity” as a way to learn and share ways of living in harmony with this miraculous planet.

Can my daily life ease gender violence, inequality, poverty, climate change, white supremacy… the 6th extinction?

Can I leave a healing planet and society for the world’s children?