In 1971, John Francis, known the world over as "Planetwalker," witnessed an oil tanker collision in the San Francisco Bay. The sight of oiled birds on the shoreline caused him to give up motorized transport and rely solely on his own two feet. Months after that, he took a vow of silence convinced that listening rather than adding fuel to any fire was the way ahead. He didn’t talk, but he kept on walking clear across the country and back again. During the next seventeen silent years, he listened and studied the world around him.

Over many miles, his idea of environmentalism changed. At the core of his emerging belief were the people he met, talked to, and broke bread with.