About this talk

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Translated into Japanese by Wataru Narita

Reviewed by Masahiro Kyushima
Comments? Please email the translators above.
More talks translated into Japanese
About John Francis
John Francis walks the Earth, carrying a message of careful, truly sustainable development and
respect for our planet.

(Music)
(Applause)
Thank you for being here. And I say thank you for being here, because I was silent
for 17 years. And the first words that I spoke were in Washington, DC, on the 20th
anniversary of Earth Day. And my family and friends had gathered there to hear
me speak. And I said, "Thank you for being here." My mother, out in the audience,
she jumped up, "Hallelujah, Johnnys talking!"
(Laughter)
Imagine if you were quiet for 17 years and your mother was out in the audience, say.
My dad said to me, "Thats one" -- Ill explain that. But I turned around because I
didnt recognize where my voice was coming from. I hadnt heard my voice in 17
years, so I turned around and I looked and I said, "God, who's saying what Im
thinking?" And then I realized it was me, you know, and I kind of laughed. And I
could see my father -- "Yeah, he really is crazy." Well, I want to take you on this
journey. And the journey, I believe, is a metaphor for all of our journeys. And so,
even though this one is kind of unusual, I want you to think about your own
journey.
My journey began in 1971 when I witnessed two oil tankers collide beneath the
Golden Gate, and a half a million gallons of oil spilled into the bay. It disturbed me
so much that I decided that I was going to give up riding and driving in motorized
vehicles. Thats a big thing in California. And it was a big thing in my little
community of Point Reyes Station in Inverness, California, because there was only
about maybe 350 people there in the winter this was back in '71 now. And so when

I came in and I started walking around, people -- they just knew what was going on.
And people would drive up next to me and say, "John, what are you doing?" And Id
say, "Well, Im walking for the environment." And they said, "No, youre walking to
make us look bad, right? Youre walking to make us feel bad." And maybe there was
some truth to that, because I thought that if I started walking everyone would, you
know, follow. Because of the oil, everybody talked about the polllution. And so I
argued with people about that, I argued and I argued. I called my parents up. I said,
"Ive given up riding and driving in cars." My dad said, "Why didnt you do that
when you were 16?"
(Laughter)
I didnt know about the environment then. Theyre back in Philadelphia. And so I
told my mother, "Im happy though, Im really happy." She said, "If you were happy,
son, you wouldnt have to say it." Mothers are like that.
And so, on my 27th birthday I decided, because I argued so much and I talk so
much, you see, that I was going to stop speaking for just one day -- one day -- to give
it a rest. And so I did. I got up in the morning and I didnt say a word. And I have to
tell you, it was a very moving experience, because for the first time, I began
listening -- in a long time. And what I heard, it kind of disturbed me. Because what
I used to do, when I thought I was listening, was I would listen just enough to hear
what people had to say and think that I could -- I knew what they were going to say,
and so I stopped listening. And in my mind, I just kind of raced ahead and thought
of what I was going to say back, while they were still finishing up. And then I would
launch in. Well, that just ended communication.
So on this first day I actually listened. And it was very sad for me, because I
realized that for those many years I had not been learning. I was 27. I thought I
knew everything. I didnt. And so I decided Id better do this for another day, and
another day, and another day until finally, I promised myself for a year I would
keep quiet because I started learning more and more and I needed to learn more. So
for a year I said I would keep quiet, and then on my birthday I would reassess what
I had learned and maybe I would talk again. Well, that lasted 17 years.
Now during that time that 17 years I walked and I played the banjo and I
painted and I wrote my journal and I tried to study the environment by reading
books. And I decided that I was going to go to school. So I did. I walked up to
Ashland, Oregon, where they were offering an environmental studies degree. Its
only 500 miles. And I went into the Registrars office and ... What, what, what? I
had a newspaper clipping. Oh, so you really want to go to school here? You dont ?
We have a special program for you. They did. And in those two years, I graduated

with my first degree -- a bachelors degree. And my father came out, he was so
proud. He said, "Listen, were really proud of you son, but what are you going to do
with a bachelors degree? You dont ride in cars, you dont talk, youre going to have
to do those things."
(Laughter)
I hunched my shoulder, I picked my backpack up again and I started walking. I
walked all the way up to Port Townsend, Washington, where I built a wooden boat,
rode it across Puget Sound. Idaho -- walked across Washington, Idaho and down to
Missoula, Montana. I had written the University of Montana two years earlier and
said I'd like to go to school there. I said I'd be there in about two years.
(Laughter)
And I was there. I showed up in two years and they -- I tell this story because they
really helped me. There are two stories in Montana. The first story is I didnt have
any money -- thats a sign I used a lot. And they said,"Don't worry about that." The
director of the program said, "Come back tomorrow." He gave me 150 dollars, and
he said, "Register for one credit. Youre going to go to South America, arent you?"
And I said -- Rivers and lakes, the hydrological systems, South America. So I did
that. He came back, he said to me, he said, "OK John, now that you've registered for
that one credit, you can have a key to an office, you can matriculate -- youre
matriculating so you can use the library. And what were going to do is were going
to have all of the professors allow you to go to class, theyre going to save your grade
and when we figure out how to get you the rest of the money, then you can register
for that class and theyll give you the grade." Wow, they dont do that in graduate
schools, I dont think. But I use that story because they really wanted to help me.
They saw that I was really interested in the environment, and they really wanted to
help me along the way.
And during that time, I actually taught classes without speaking. And I had 13
students when I first walked into the class, and I explained with a friend, who could
interpret my sign language, that I was John Francis, I was walking around the
world, I didnt talk and this was the last time this persons going to be here
interpreting for me. All the students sat around and they went
(Laughter)
I could see they were looking for the schedule to see when they could get out. They
had to take that class with me. Two weeks later, everyone was trying to get into our
class.

And I learned in that class -- because I would do things like this ... and they were all
gathered around, going, what's he trying to say? I don't know, I think he's talking
about clear cutting. Yeah, clear cutting. No, no, no, that's not clear cutting, thats -he's using a handsaw. Well, you cant clear cut with a ... Yes, you can clear cut ... No,
I think hes talking about selective forestry. Now this was a discussion class and we
were having a discussion. I just backed out of that, you know, and I just kind of kept
the fists from flying. But what I learned was that sometimes I would make a sign
and they said things that I absolutely did not mean, but I should have. And so what
came to me is if you were a teacher and you were teaching, if you werent learning
you probably werent teaching very well. And so I went on.
My dad came out to see me graduate and, you know, I did the deal, and my father
said, "Were really proud of you son, but ... " You know what went on, he said,
"Youve got to start riding and driving and start talking. What are you going to do
with a masters degree?" I hunched my shoulder, I got my backpack and I went on
to the University of Wisconsin.
I spent two years there writing on oil spills. No one was interested in oil spills. But
something happened -- Exxon Valdez. And I was the only one in the United States
writing on oil spills. My dad came out again. He said, "I don't know how you do this,
son, I mean, you don't ride in cars, you dont talk. My sister said maybe I should
leave you alone, because you seem to be doing a lot better when youre not saying
anything."
(Laughter)
Well, I put on my backpack again. I put my banjo and I walked all the way to the
East Coast, put my foot in the Atlantic Ocean it was seven years and one day it
took me to walk across the United States.
And on Earth Day, 1990, the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, thats when I began to
speak. And thats why I said, "Thank you for being here." Because it's sort of like
that tree in the forest falling, and if there's no one there to hear -- does it really
make a sound? And Im thanking you, and I'm thanking my family, because they
had come to hear me speak. And thats communication. And they also taught me
about listening -- that they listened to me. And its one of those things that came out
of the silence, the listening to each other. Really, very important -- we need to listen
to each other. Well, my journey kept going on. My dad said, "Thats one," and I still
didnt let that go.
I worked for the Coastguard, was made a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador. I wrote

regulations for the United States -- I mean, I wrote oil spill regulations. I mean, 20
years ago if someone had said to me, "John, do you really want to make a
difference?" "Yeah, I want to make a difference." He said, "You just start walking
east, get out of your car and just start walking east." And as I walked off a little bit,
and they'd say, "Yeah, and shut up, too.
(Laughter)
Youre going to make a difference, buddy." How could that be, how could that be?
How could doing such a simple thing like walking and not talking make a
difference?
Well, my time at the Coast Guard was a really good time. And after that -- I only
worked one year -- I said, "That's enough, one year's enough for me to do that." I got
on a sailboat and I sailed down to the Caribbean, and walked through all of the
islands and to Venezuela. And you know, I forgot the most important thing, which is
why I started talking, which I have to tell you. I started talking because I had
studied environment, Id studied environment at this level, this formal level, but
there was this informal level. And the informal level -- I learned about people, and
what we do and how we are. And environment changed from just being about trees
and birds and endangered species to being about how we treated each other.
Because if we are the environment, then all we need to do is look around us and see
how we treat ourselves and how we treat each other. And so thats the message that
I had. And I said, "Well, I'm going to have to spread that message." And I got in my
sailboat, sailed all the way through the Caribbean -- it wasn't really my sailboat, I
kind of worked on that boat -- got to Venezuela and I started walking.
This is the last part of this story, because its how I got here, because I still didn't
ride in motorized vehicles. I was walking through El Dorado -- it's a prison town,
famous prison, or infamous prison -- in Venezuela, and I dont know what possessed
me, because this was not like me. There I am, walking past the guard gate and the
guard stops and says, "Pasaporte, pasaporte," and with an M16 pointed at me. And
I looked at him and I said, "Passport, huh, I don't need to show you my passport, its
in the back of my pack. 'I'm Dr. Francis, I'm a U.N. Ambassador and I'm walking
around the world. And I started walking off. What possessed me to say this thing?
The road turned into the jungle. I didnt get shot. And I got to -- I start saying, free
at last, thank God Almighty, Im free at last. What was that about, Im saying, what
was that about?
I took me 100 miles to figure out that in my heart, in me, I had become a prisoner. I
was a prisoner and I needed to escape. The prison that I was in was the fact that I
did not drive or use motorized vehicles. Now how could that be? Because when I

started, it seemed very appropriate to me not to use motorized vehicles. But the
thing that was different was that every birthday, I asked myself about silence, but I
never asked myself about my decision to just use my feet. I had no idea I was going
to become a U.N. Ambassador. I had no idea I would have a Ph.D.
And so I realized that I had a responsibility to more than just me, and that I was
going to have to change. You know, we can do it. I was going to have to change. And
I was afraid to change, because I was so used to the guy who only just walked. I was
so used to that person that I didnt want to stop. I didnt know who I would be if I
changed. But I know I needed to. I know I needed to change, because it would be the
only way that I could be here today. And I know that a lot of times we find ourselves
in this wonderful place where weve gotten to, but theres another place for us to go.
And we kind of have to leave behind the security of who weve become, and go to the
place of who we are becoming. And so, I want to encourage you to go to that next
place, to let yourself out of any prison that you might find yourself in, as
comfortable as it may be, because we have to do something now. We have to change
now. As our former Vice President said, we have to become activists. So if my voice
can touch you, if my actions can touch you, if my being here can touch you, please
let it be. And I know that all of you have touched me while Ive been here.
So, lets go out into the world and take this caring, this love, this respect that weve
shown each other right here at TED, and take this out into the world. Because we
are the environment, and how we treat each other is really how were going to treat
the environment. So I want to thank you for being here and I want to end this in
five seconds of silence.
Thank you.
(Applause)

17
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