Contacts:
Pat Suhrcke, Director
(617) 495-2727
email: Public Events@cambridgeforum.org
Press Release
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The
Planetwalker’s Newest Call
Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 7:30 pm
First Parish
in Cambridge
3 Church Street, Cambridge, MA
Free and Open to the Public -- Voluntary
Donation Requested
What can a man who gave up motorized transportation for 22
years tell us about saving the earth?
John Francis simultaneously
took a 17 year vow of silence and began an environmental pilgrimage for peace
after witnessing
an oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 1971. Known world-wide as the Planetwalker,
he
earned three academic degrees, including a PhD in Land Resources at the University
of
Wisconsin, Madison during his silent period. How does his unique combination
of scientific expertise and spiritual understanding help contemporary Americans
change their relationship with the earth? Having walked the length of South America
and also been designated as
a UN Goodwill Ambassador to the World’s Grassroots Communities, what is the environmental
crisis faced by indigenous people?
John Francis—the Planetwalker—is now the author of a new book from National Geographic.
Arguing that 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 a climate-change and deforestation, but also
the humanitarian issues.
From peace and justice to everyday civility, Francis
contends that our connection to the earth as well as each other is at the heart
of the environmental crisis. He presents his call to action at Cambridge Forum
on Wednesday, May 14 at 7:30 pm at First Parish (Unitarian Universalist)
in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The forum will be moderated
by Professor David
Morimoto of Lesley University.
Cambridge Forums are free and open to the public. Book signing will follow program. Open discussion follows speaker presentation. Events are recorded for public radio broadcast. CDs and tapes are available. Call 617-495-2727. Forums can also be viewed online: Go to www.cambridgeforum.org and click on the WGBH Forum Network. Cambridge Forum 3 Church Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone/fax: 617-495-2727 email: director@cambridgeforum.org website: http://www.cambridgeforum.org "Bringing people together to talk again . . ."