For two decades he walked around the world as a protest against environmental damage. When people started asking why he was doing it, he stopped talking. For 17 years.
The man dubbed The planet walker, aka John Francis, has since found reason to talk again and is bringing his message Down Under.
The 63-year-old American environmentalist is in Australia where he's taking part in The Art of Walking, a new documentary about the Great Ocean Walk spanning Victoria's south-west coast.
"It's always been a dream of mine to come to Australia and be a part of such an endeavour," he said in a phone interview from Cape Otway a few days before he was scheduled to finish the 100km walk.
"The (Great Ocean Walk) is just really remarkable to me."
Francis' story began in San Francisco, 1971.
His hands were stained from the oil he had been trying to scrub off the beach in the wake of a disastrous oil spill, and as he looked at the devastation surrounding him, he vowed to make a difference.
But it wasn't until the death of a friend that he realised he didn't have until tomorrow to act.
That's when he decided to stop using motorised vehicles.
Like a walking Forrest Gump, he traipsed for 22 years across the US to the Caribbean, into the Alto Plano in Bolivia and through Antarctica.
After all these years of walking, Francis sees it as much more than a way of getting from one place to another.
"To me, walking is a metaphor for what life is. I hope I continue to practice it, because it has been a great teacher for me," he said.
His long journey had a rocky start. His decision to stop using motorised vehicles came as a shock to those around him. Cars were an essential part of everyday life in the community, and friends and neighbours mocked his unusual decision.
"When I started walking, I expected other people to kind of follow me. But instead, I started having arguments with people about whether or not it would even make a difference," he said.
So, on his 27th birthday, he decided to stop speaking for one day to avoid arguments.
That day became the first of 17 years.
"The first thing I learned (that day) was that I hadn't been listening," said Francis.
"I realised I had lost all this opportunity to learn things that I might have learned if only I had listened to people earlier. And when I didn't speak, all the arguments stopped.
"Instead, I rediscovered my voice -- my inner voice. I found peace and a certain acceptance in being the person I was and not trying to be anyone else," he said.
In the ensuing years, he traversed the US, taking his undergraduate and masters degrees in environmental studies.
His journey took him to the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Study in Wisconsin where he studied oil spills for two years.
Then, in March 1989, the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska caused some 40 million litres of oil to spill into the Prince William Sound.
"It turned out that I was the only person in the US who was studying oil spills at a PhD level. It was, I guess, perfect timing," he said.
Francis continued walking across the rest of the country and when he reached Cape Maine in New Jersey he touched the water of the Atlantic Ocean.
"It took me about seven years and one day to walk from the Pacific to the Atlantic and, having done that in silence, I had a message."
After 17 years, Francis finally decided to speak. On the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990, he stood up in front of a crowd consisting of family, friends and the media and uttered his first words: "Thank you for being here."
"The reason I felt it was important for me to start speaking was because I had a message from studying the environment formally and informally by walking through communities and listening. I discovered that we human beings are also a part of the environment.
"When we treat each other in a non-sustainable way, it really manifests itself in the physical environment.
"So, it's not just about trees and endangered species and the things that we traditionally think of as the environment, it's also about human rights and civil rights and gender equality and how we treat each other when we meet each other. That's what I learned," he said.
With the Copenhagen Climate Summit set to dominate the world's headlines this week, Francis still believes the earth has a chance.
"Each of us has to make the decision to make this a better planet. I understand that people say,`what can one person do?' But I see it in my own life; it is possible.
"I hope my journey can be a metaphor for all of our journeys and possibilities. That's key -- following your heart. Discover who you are and be that person."
The Art of Walking, which follows five walking greats as they experience the beauty of the Great Ocean Road, is a one-hour documentary produced for Tourism Victoria. It is scheduled to air in March 2010.
