Saving Walden’s World Announces Encore Virtual Screening
Women from the Kudumbashree Cooperative. Kudumbashree literally means “prosperity of the family,” which decades of savvy community organizers discovered occurs when women have power and agency.
Saving Walden's World is offering virtual hoiliday screenings
Documentary Suggests Sustainable Actions
Parents everywhere wrestle with these thoughts. It’s natural to want to give their children the same opportunities they enjoyed—or perhaps even more. For Jim Merkel, these questions became deeply personal as he watched his young son, Walden, grow and wondered about the world he would inherit.
Into Action
Merkel’s background, first as a military weapons developer and then as a rural homesteader, had taught him that there were other ways to live sustainably. He began exploring cultures that already met or exceeded the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This path of discovery brought him to the realization that a film telling the story of sustainable lifestyles just might have the impact he was seeking. So began the filmmaking journey of Saving Walden’s World, which chronicles Jim’s passion for preserving a green planet for his growing son’s global peers, alongside unexpectedly sustainable cultures in Kerala (India), Slovenia, and Cuba.
Chronicling Positive Change in Unexpected Places
Merkel built a team of Emmy-award-winning filmmakers, editors, and producers to create this feature-length documentary, which has spent 2024 on tour, stacking up over a dozen film festivals and awards and, along the way, another 40 or so screenings by sailboat, EV, and across Kerala, India.
Saving Walden’s World turns conventional assumptions on their heads, inviting alternative options for living and showcasing some often-overlooked realities. For instance, when women are given a sense of worth beyond bearing children, the positive societal impact has rarely been thoughtfully examined through cinema.
Solutions with a Common Thread
While Merkel had carefully targeted locations that met or exceeded the UN’s 2030 SDGs, he did not expect to find so much in common with these diverse cultures. Kerala, Slovenia, and Cuba shared their commitment to universal health care, women’s empowerment, education, and ecology.
Breaking down the patriarchal model, women in the Kudumbashree program in Kerala, India, opt for a cooperative rather than a competitive model. This includes a microfinance program with 4 million women members who support organic farms, tailor shops, home building, soap making, and more. The word Kudumbashree literally means “prosperity of the family,” which decades of savvy community organizers discovered occurs when women have power and agency. Kerala’s women now hold 58 percent of the seats in local government.
Ljubljana in Slovenia has earned the title “European Green Capital” for its sustainable practices. The inner city is car-free, a zero-waste program is in place, and forested green spaces surround the city. Community gardens, co-ops, and renewable energy are growing, drawing tourists to the vibrant cafes and quiet streets.
The United States has taken a strident view of Cuba for decades and implemented many embargos. However, Cuba provides free education and has methodically sent educated women back into the countryside to serve at community medical clinics, where care is free and health is considered a fundamental right.
These and other programs are discussed in depth, giving a distinct impression of real-world solutions that offer insight and hope from social, commerce, non-colonial, and ecological viewpoints.
Gift of Holiday Hope: Limited-Time Virtual Screening
Saving Walden's World is closing the year with an on-demand viewing option as a fitting encore to a busy year of screenings, tours, and talks. This allows anyone wishing to see the film to do so with family and friends in their home.
[Follow this link for details on a virtual Saving Walden’s World screening.] https://watch.showandtell.film/watch/savingwalden
First Show of the New Year – Jan. 9th
For those who prefer the experience of seeing a film on a big screen, Saving Walden’s World will be showing on January 9, 2025, at 6:00 PM at the Clifford Arts and Student Center on 42 Depot St, in Unity, ME. Get Tickets here: https://www.cliffordartscenter.org/event-details/saving-waldens-world
Into 2025
For the coming year, Merkel hopes to bring his film to communities with sponsors and partners to increase its impact, deepen the conversation, and continue to promote healthy food systems, women’s rights, simple living, and peace. His vision includes using this film to help raise awareness and funds for like-minded organizations. Nonprofit, educational, and government sponsors can inquire by contacting jim@savingwaldensworld.org.
What Leaders Are Saying
"Jim Merkel offers a special mix of practicality and idealism: a workable mix." — Bill McKibben
"As a former engineer working on weapons, his words have a special power." — Howard Zinn
Join the Conversation
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pamela biery
Thumbler Agency
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Saving Walden's World Examines Sustainable Cultures
Distribution channels: Culture, Society & Lifestyle, Education, Environment, Human Rights, Movie Industry
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