Planetwalk
Dr. John Francis, former UN Environment Program goodwill ambassador to the world's grassroots communities, will be returning to Hendrysburg, Ohio to continue this walking journey retracing his original route back across the US. On this fourth leg, of the journey beginning Wednesday April 22, Dr. Francis will be joined by Jon Waterhouse, Executive Director of the Yukon River Inter-tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC), a 67 tribe treaty organization who believes along with Dr. Francis, that "personal empowerment is important to help Americans address the environmental challenges of the 21st century." By connecting Planetwalk with YRITWC's canoe expeditions (Healing Journeys) both organizations look to encourage non-traditional partnerships in support of the goals and ideals of the walk. This event will showcase diverse entities working together to spotlight how important our own actions are in protecting our natural environment.

During this leg, Planetwalk will continue to develop Planetlines, a K- University multi-discipline, modular environmental studies curriculum with a community service component, based on the original walking pilgrimage of Dr. Francis, who after witnessing an oil spill in California, gave up the use of motorized vehicles for 22-year, and walked across the United States, the Caribbean and the length of South America.

Participants walk and their route or Planetline is captured by Geographical Position System (GPS) and laid onto Geographic Information System (GIS). During the walk participant gathers environmental data, such as temperature, humidity, ground and sky cover, to be posted and made available to share on the Planetlines' GIS website. Other data such as digital images, video, sound recordings, drawings or paintings of landscapes, plants and other elements, will attempt to go beyond usual data collection, to constructed spaces, local culture and other anthropological details; collectors will also be encouraged to produce art inspired by the places they observe.  The information collected on this Planetlines will also be joined with the data collected on the YRITWC Healing Journeys the "ground truth" of these many forms of information will aid in our understanding of our planet.

Technology/Partnerships
For environmental data collection are working with PASCO, and using their earth/environmental Probe. http://www.pasco.com/

IMARSAT is working to provide us with to provide an Explorer 700 and Tandberg will be supplying a portable VTC unit for teleconferencing. This will enable Planetwalk to broadcast over the Internet in real time, all 5-days, from remote locations on the road onto the Planetwalk website. We are also scheduled to present 90 minutes teleconference segment for the Missouri State University forum on Sustainability Thursday, April 23. http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/conference/

While we are planning for the participants to camp for most of the 5-day walk, we are looking for an alternative fuel support vehicle to use during the walk. In the event that we are unable to find a hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicle that can be spotlighted in promotion and during the telecast, we will use conventional vehicles.

National Geographic Society
Because the trade paper version of Planetwalker: 17 Years of Silence, 22 Years of Walking, will be published on Earth Day, April 22, we are looking for support in the form of financial or an in-kind partnership with NGS who has already supported YRITWC Healing Journey in 2006 through the Legacy Fund.

Route
The 94 mile, 5 day route begins at Hendrysburg, where 40 meets 800, going north to Sewellville, through Freeport, rout 258 west to Peoli, then Newcomers town, then 9 to West Lafayette, and on Rt. 16 to Coshocton, and Tunnel Hill, West Bedford then 541 to New Guilford, Newcastle then Rt. 36 to Rt. 229 to Gambier into Mount Vernon.

Other Support
Timberland Shoes
Osprey Backpacks
Hilleberg Tents
Solio Chargers
Brunton Solar Panels
Nokia Phones