Radically Simple Norwich author Jim Merkel offers new method for reducing carbon footprint in "Radical Simplicity"

Author: Grace Close

In the midst of the current U.S. financial crisis, some Americans are urging their fellow citizens to spend big to sustain the local economy. Vermont resident Jim Merkel, however, holds a different view of sustainability.

Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth, held a talk at the Ilsley Public Library on Feb. 6 to promote what he sees as the key to an equitable earth: simplicity.

"Radical simplicity," explained Merkel, "is going beyond screwing in the new energy-efficient light bulb or cleaning your closet." The solution to living with radical simplicity is looking at our own lives in the context of the globe and determining the fair way to live, considering that we share the earth with 6.5 billion other people.

"It's the key to creating equity amongst all humans, species and generations," said Merkel of living as an ecological individual.

Before his adoption of this simplicity, however, Merkel was a military engineer, selling arms to foreign governments.

"The United States is the largest arms dealer in the world," explained Merkel, "so I got to see firsthand the impact of the rich American lifestyle driven by these geopolitics." Merkel found himself in an ethical crisis. "I finally faced how I couldn't keep taking the booty of the war. I wanted to know that no one was suffering from my life."

Slowly, Merkel began to simplify his life, ultimately reducing his living expenses to $5,000 a year. His drastically reduced income prevents him from having to pay taxes and fund government weaponry - an ironic turn considering his former profession. To begin this transformation, Merkel sold all his expendable possessions at numerous yard sales, began to bike to work and rented out three of the four bedrooms in his California home. A proponent of the small-house-movement, Merkel has cut most of his costs by moving to his 14 ft.-by-16 ft. cabin in Norwich, Vt.

"Living in a simpler space moves you closer to how a global citizen should live," he said. With a kitchen sink and shower supplied by rainwater, a root cellar, and a vegan garden, Merkel lives efficiently and equitably (and with an electricity bill of ten dollars a month).

Along with transforming his own lifestyle, Merkel has begun to transform others' with the Global Living Project. The catalyst behind the project was a 1993 research trip that Merkel took to Kerala, India. He worked to learn how the inhabitants of his village lived on $360 a year. Merkel found that the citizens of this village were much happier than the Americans he knew at home, that they lived longer lives and that they owned 30 to 50 percent less than the average American family. Upon his return to America, Merkel set up a research team of educators, activists and college students, who, for a six week period, measured everything they consumed. In his book, Merkel details how each of us can reduce our carbon footprint to only three acres (below that of an average citizen of China).

"The question we asked was: is it possible to live harmoniously within the means of equity in nature? And our answer was yes," said Merkel. "The next question was: How can you have the most artful and purposeful life on the smallest footprint?"

As for the footprint of the average American college student, Merkel notes that there is plenty one can do to reduce its size, despite students' obvious inability to change building structures and facilities services. Some students at Oberlin College, for example, worked to install real-time electricity meters that they could check online. By eliminating phantom energy sources, such as mini-refrigerators, the students cut their energy use by 50 percent.

"Use your education and put it to work towards an equitable future," said Merkel.

Merkel also said he realizes that the current state of economic turmoil is positively promoting his mission.

"As much as the government and business are trying to tantalize us into being big spenders, people are realizing that they are being urged to save unsustainable businesses." Merkel's radical simplicity offers a sustainable solution to the spiritual crisis many consumerists are facing now, and it is this simple way of living that will provide for an equitable and sustainable globe.

If every person were to start one thing to take a step towards global, sustainable living, Markel believes it would be to start seeing him- or herself as a global citizen. "

Think: 'I am one of 6.5 billion people,'" said Merkel. "I am one of 25 million species. I am one of thousands of generations to come."