Ex arms dealer returns from “enemy” territory with women-led solutions

that could save the world-on-the brink for his son, Walden.

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

April 15, Earth Day Film Challenge, Ages 13-18, 50-Mile Radius from Waterville, ME, $100 Prizes - top 5 films
April 22, 6:30 PM at Maine Film Center, Waterville, Maine
April 23, 6.00 PM at College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine
April 25, Friday, 1PM, Made Here Film Festival, Burlington Vermont
April 26, 6 PM, AWARD CEREMONY for Made Here Film Festival, Burlington Beer Company
June 8-21, EARTHFest Screening, TBD, Huntsman Theatre, St. Andrews, NB

Watch The Trailer

Jim’s Story:

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 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.

Powerful women reduce infant mortality, poverty and family size while increasing longevity.

Gender Equality & Sustainability

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.

Our story uncovers how:

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Land reform, literacy and universal higher education dramatically increase well-being.

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Family planning, child care and public health programs yielded results similar to advanced European social democracies in "poor" societies.

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Many of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals were achieved by empowered women.

Some were not pleased.

Declassified documents reveal covert plots to undo these efforts.

  • Societies that enacted agrarian reforms faced military intervention — to control land and labor.
  • Programs aimed to lower poverty and expand education were targeted as “socialist.”
  • Jim became entangled in this “Secret Government” exposed in a 1987 Bill Moyers documentary.

Imagine…

the world’s wealthy consume less,

the poor exit poverty,

fewer — yet healthier children are born,

easing extinctions, hunger and climate change.

A self-reinforcing cycle where all win.

A Spiritual Emergency

About the director & the film

The 1987 Iran Contra hearings exposed how the KL-43 that I help design was used by Ollie North to illegally arm dictators favorable to US business interests. Two years later, I watched T.V. coverage of the EXXON Valdez oil spill in a bar-room in Stockhlom while marketing the KL-43. Something snapped.

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?
 

Blog

Permaculture: Building Sustainable Futures for Walden’s World

Permaculture offers modern society a vision of sustainability and harmony with nature—not in retreat, but as a plan for the sustainable future we must collectively build.

Creating Local Food Systems Can Defeat Industrial Food Corporations

When communities rebuild local food systems, they create models others can follow. Local food isn’t just about what’s on your plate—it’s about the system.

Denying Abortion Rights Are Unkind Acts Against the Marginalized

The United States has had a long-standing and controversial issue with abortion rights which have been shaped by legal battles, political beliefs, and social movements. The main point of discussion surrounding this debate is whether women have the right to make autonomous decisions about their own bodies.

Latest News

Temple candles

Film exploring the intersection of permaculture and female empowerment to hold local screening

Saving Walden's World screens at UMaine

The award-winning documentary “Saving Walden’s World” screens at the University of Maine

Saving Walden’s World asks, “Are there dividends to society from ensuring all have a decent life.” The screening with take place Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. at the UMaine Welcome Center, Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center, 75 Long Road, Orono, ME.
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Saving Walden’s World’ looks at 3 societies believed sustainable and fair

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