John Francis
“The Planetwalker” – West Cape May, NJ USA
John Francis is an American environmentalist nicknamed The Planetwalker. Born in Philadelphia, the son of a West Indian immigrant, he moved to Marin County, California as a young man. In the early 1970s John Francis gave up using motorized vehicles after witnessing the devastating effects of an oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Soon Afterwards he took an even more radical step: a vow of silence that lasted 17 years, during which he undertook a pilgrimage by foot across America on behalf of the environment and world peace, earning his Ph.D. in environmental studies along the way. Through his silence and walking, he learned to truly listen, both to other people and the world around him.
Since ending his silence in 1990, Francis has served as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program, contributed to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Oil Pollution Act of 1990, rewriting transportation regulations in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill, and founded Planetwalk, a nonprofit environmental education organization. He relates the experience of his quiet protest in his book Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence.
In March 2011, National Geographic published his second book, The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World. Last year he was elected to a four-year term as one of three commissioners of the Borough of West Cape May, NJ, where he lives.
Accompanied by his ever present banjo and his gentle but determined demeanor, Francis communicates a surprisingly pragmatic message of pilgrimage and social change.
Planetwalk is dedicated to “Saving the planet, one step at a time.” Part of the program is a project called Planetlines, an “innovative, modular curriculum for K-12, college and university students that will also be suited for general participation, as well as seniors.” Planetlines encourages students of all ages to interact with the environment through walking.
“One of the goals of the Planetlines curriculum is to bring the student out of the classroom to experience the environment and the geography that is part of our daily lives,” John says. Planetlines encourages students to “discover our relationship [to the Earth] through the stories of others.”
“We use maps as a tool to explore and to display what we have discovered. For example, the qualitative and quantitative data that students gather during their walk is put in a GIS database and displayed on Google Maps.”
Today, Dr. Francis is visiting associate professor at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is teaching both graduated and undergraduate seminars in environmental studies.
Publications: Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence; The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World.
Website: Planet Walk
Video 1) John Francis: Planetwalker
Video 2) TED Talk
