After feeling frustrated with his experiences in environmental action, John Francis decided to take a more fundamental and personal stand—he stopped using motorized transportation, and soon took a vow of silence that endured for 17 years. What began as protest expanded beyond concern about pollution and loss of habitat to include how we humans treat each other and how we can better work together to benefit the earth.
Along his journey, Francis earned college and graduate degrees in science and environmental studies. The United Nations appointed him goodwill ambassador to the world's grassroots communities and the U.S. government recruited him to help address the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Was he crazy? How did he live and earn all those degrees without talking? An amazing human-interest story, with a vital message, Planetwalker is also a deeply personal and engaging coming-of-age odyssey—the positive experiences, the challenging times, the characters encountered, and the learning gained along the way.
John Francis, Ph.D., is the Founder and Director of Planetwalk, a nonprofit environmental education organization. He travels around the world speaking on pilgrimage and change, and on Planetlines, an environmental studies curriculum based on the walking pilgrimage, which he is developing for K-12 schools and universities.
"It's a remarkably insightful, poetic, and inspiring story, one that's sure to make readers think more carefully about their own styles of living."—Booklist
