Dr. John Francis

Talk Title: Redefining Environment

Thursday, January 28, 6p.m. in Leacock 132

John Francis, Ph.D., known the world over as the Planetwalker, will discuss
how the current environmental crisis is a reflection of world‐wide social
and economic inequity and that any attempt to resolve the crisis must not
only address the scientific issues, such as climate‐change and deforestation
but also the humanitarian issues. From peace and justice to everyday
civility, Dr. Francis contends that our connection to the earth as well as
each other is at the heart of the environmental crisis.

Dr. Francis will reflect on his own journey into environmental awareness
beginning in Philadelphia as the son of a West Indian immigrant to writing
international oil spill regulations for the US Coast Guard. The climax of
this journey occurred in 1971, when he witnessed an oil spill in San
Francisco Bay and gave up using motorized vehicles. Several months later he
took a vow of silence and began a walking and sailing pilgrimage around the
world.

Dr. Francis’s non‐motorized lifestyle lasted twenty‐two years and his
silence seventeen years. During this time, he earned a B.A at Southern
Oregon State College, an M.S. in Environmental Studies at the University of
Montana and a Ph.D. in Land Resources at the University of Wisconsin. He
later sailed and walked through the Caribbean and then walked the length of
South America.

Dr. Francis is the author of Planetwalker.  22 Years of Walking.  17 Years of Silence.

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