Environmentalist John Francis witnessed firsthand the Standard Oil Company tanker’s collision and subsequent catastrophic San Francisco Bay oil spill of 1971.
Devastated by the petroleum industry’s careless lack of accountability to the wildlife and human beings that survived off the Bay’s waters, Francis made an extreme choice.
He vowed not to ride in motorized vehicles for 22 YEARS! But when his righteous trek across America failed to change minds, he took it a step further.
Sensing a need to listen more than argue, he stopped SPEAKING for 17 YEARS too! Would people pay attention now?!
Francis’ extreme measures changed minds AND environmental regulations, through his PhD research in land uses (earned DURING his silent years) and work on the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
And he’s not alone.
While media images depict environmental activists to be exclusively white, upper class, well-educated individuals, Black people know acutely what Francis wisely shared in an interview with online publication Grist:
“If you’re not talking about human rights, economic equity, mutual respect, you’re not really dealing with the environment… Because we are the environment, and how we treat each other is really how we’re going to treat the environment.”