Merkel talks about sustainability at Sanbornton Congregational Church on Nov. 17

Could your family live well on $5,000 a year? Why would you want to? Jim Merkel, director of sustainability at Dartmouth College, will answer those questions in a talk open to the public at Sanbornton Congregational Church, UCC, on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. The program is free.

Merkel is author of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth (New Society Publishers, 2003). He was a successful military engineer and arms trader when he decided to quit his job to spend his life working to preserve the environment and to promote world peace. It was at the time of the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.

He volunteered for the Sierra Club, founded an Alternative Transportation Task Force in San Obispo, Calif., and lobbied in Washington, D.C., for wilderness, peace and Native American rights. He was awarded a fellowship in 1994, to study sustainable living in Kerala. India, He now lives in Vermont on $5,000 a year, teaching, writing, working on the Global Living Project which he founded in 1995, and bicycling to deliver workshops on sustainable living.

Merkel tells us it takes 24 acres to support the lifestyle and consumption of the average American, while one of the poorest citizens of India will use only .8 acres of the earth. His book is full of Yankee wisdom: “purchase local products; buy what you need (don’t shop); take care of what you own; do it yourself.”

Merkel will discuss the themes and ideas in his book and answer questions about his beliefs and lifestyle.

Sanbornton Congregational Church is at 21 Meetinghouse Hill Road, off Route 132 in Sanbornton Square. For more information, call 524-6104.