Green Success Stories offers a salute to Dr. John Francis, environmentalist hero.

John Francis was known as Planetwalker. After seeing a huge oil spill under the Golden Gate Bridge, John took and lived a vow – never to ride in a motorized vehicle again.

So he walked. Everywhere. Across the US. Across South America. To the college where he got his BA in environmental studies. To the grad schools where he got his Masters and Doctorate. To Antartica. He walked, banjo in hand, living and teaching, of our duty to appreciate and protect the environment.

What didn’t he do? He didn’t talk. After walking for about a year, and pretty much arguing the cause (often with bewildered motorists), he realized that he was talking, but not really listening. Every thought would be about how to answer what he thought the other person might say.

So, in addition to walking, he added not talking. He didn’t say a word for 17 years.

In the meantime he learned the value of listening. And in the college classes he taught (with gestures and chalk), he got students to listen to each other, to find their voice, and to let others find theirs.

On the first Earth Day in 1990, John felt that it was time to return to the spoken voice. And tell the world of the need to listen, of the need to recognize that we are part of the environment.

As he said at a later TED talk:

We are the environment. How we treat each other is how we treat the environment.

Dr. John Francis, Planetwalker

Francis wrote of his experiences in Planetwalker, went on to rewrite government pollution regulations, serve as UN Environmental Ambassador, and star in a documentary about his efforts.

He ended that TED talk with 5 seconds of not talking. Of listening.

We continue to listen to his message.