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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| May 15, 2005 |
Earthwalker – Paul Coleman |
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| Mr. Paul Coleman |
Growing up in Manchester, England in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Mr. Paul Coleman dreamed of the Amazon. “When I was growing up, Manchester was a very industrial city and it was in decay,” he explained. “That is where my dream of going to other places came from.” These dreams led him to joining the British Merchant Navy, which he spent six years with, traveling the world. His first assignment onboard was disposal of the ship’s garbage, which involved collecting up to sixty large bags per day and dumping them overboard. Even though he had never heard of environmental issues, he began to wonder if this was the right thing to do. |
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| photo courtesy of Mr. Coleman |
In 1988, while working in Canada as chauffer to a close friend of the Queen of England, Mr. Coleman began to feel like something was missing in his life. “On the one hand, I had everything, lots of money, parties all the time. But on the other hand, I had nothing. Then, I realize what (the problem) was: the Amazon, the place I most wanted to visit, was being destroyed, going up in flames. It was all over the news. I asked myself ‘what can I do to help?’” At this point, he took time off, bought a bicycle, and went to Iceland to think about his life. This was the first time he had ever traveled alone, and it changed his life forever. After returning, he quit his job and began writing fairy tales for children, focusing on peace and environmental issues.
During this period of his life, he finally had the opportunity to visit Peru, and the Amazon. Realizing his lifelong dream was everything he had imagined it would be, and during his expeditions he saw the beauty of the forest and the life it supports. He also saw the destruction humans were causing and the negative effects this was having on both the Amazon and the world itself. After returning to Canada in 1989, Mr. Coleman found himself at a loss. “’I’d spent all my money on expeditions and was wondering what I could do. How was I to continue helping to preserve life on Earth? One day I heard about the first UN Earth summit in Brazil and thought that maybe I could walk there. If I could walk there in two years, I might be able to talk to a lot of people and eventually talk with the UN.” |
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| photo courtesy of Mr. Coleman |
On June 25, 1990, Mr. Coleman began his first walk, beginning in Canada. In the two years it took him to walk to Brazil, he had the opportunity to speak with thousands of people and spread his message of environmental awareness and peace. After successfully traveling through Canada and the United States, a strange thing began to happen. “In Mexico, that’s where I realized the power of the people, what they can do when they get together,” he told Peace Boat participants. “I was walking through Mexico, and more and more people were saying “hi”. One day, I came into a small town and there were twenty people around a circle of grass. In front of every one of them there was a hole and every one of them had a tree. I walked up and they gave me a tree. Everyone planted one; we planted them together. I was walking, speaking to people, but I was not intending to plant trees. After that, every single day I was planting trees. Eventually, there were thousands of people turning up to plant trees with me. The government saw this and gave the people trees to plant. By the time I reached the Mexican border, more than one million trees had been planted.” |
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| Mr. Coleman planting taro with Peace Boat participants at O’ahu Hawaii’s Cultural Learning Center at Ka’ala. |
Word of Mr. Coleman’s walk traveled, and when he reached the UN Earth summit, he was welcomed with open arms. The UN was in such support of his activities, that they wanted to present him with an award ... when he began his next walk. “I literally burst out laughing. I said ‘You must be joking! I’ve been walking for two years, and you want me to walk more? No way!’ Two years later, I was walking again. The war in Bosnia was raging and people asked me if I could do something to help. I realized that I could walk there, plant trees, and say something about war and the environment.” Even though the final areas he walked through were ravaged by war, he made it safely into Sarajevo where he planted the tree he had brought in. In the three years the city of Sarajevo was under siege, it cut down more than 80% of its trees for fuel and other necessities. Mr. Coleman had the opportunity to address the city council of Sarajevo, and the mayor gave him a list of trees that they wanted to be planted. |
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| photo courtesy of Mr. Coleman |
Now, Mr. Coleman is in the middle of his longest walk, which he believes will take ten years to complete. The goal of this walk is to plant 100 million trees, one for every man, woman, and child killed in the last century of warfare In 2000, he set out from England and walked through Europe, the Middle East, then went down to South Africa and up through Zimbabwe. Currently he is in the middle of a detour to Japan; he has walked from Tokyo to Hiroshima and, after joining Peace Boat’s 48th voyage for its final two weeks, Mr. Coleman hopes to continue walking in other areas of the country. Ultimately, he plans to return to Africa and continue his walk, with his final destination being China. |
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Thanks to Mr. Coleman’s efforts, more than six million trees have been planted throughout the course of his walks. “I’m standing here today and you only see me,” he told attendees at one of his lectures onboard Peace Boat, “but I left 15 years ago with virtually no money. The reason I am here and so many trees have been planted is because thousands and thousands have supported me. They are like an invisible crowd supporting me today. To plant 100 million trees, that is going to take massive action ... People often say to me ‘Why walk all the way to China?’ It’s very simple – to see 100 million trees planted, you have to go a long way. |
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