Doctor walks across U.S. promoting renewable energy

Martin Vosseler, a fit 59-year-old, strode into the Getty food mart yesterday afternoon on Baltimore Pike in Media, looking to shed a few empty water bottles.

"Do you recycle?" asked the retired physician from Switzerland, as he pulled three plastic bottles from his backpack.

The clerk shook his head, and Vosseler asked, "Why not?" A coworker, who had been watching the scene unfold half asleep, shrugged and laughed.

Vosseler chose not to go into the merits of recycling and renewable energy this time around, but he is a man on a long, foot-sore mission. He is en route to Boston to complete his walk across America to promote renewable energy sources.

He has been walking eight to 12 hours a day and covering anywhere from 25 to 35 miles since he left Los Angeles Jan. 1.

The environmental activist gets attention: He wears bright orange bicycle shorts and, with a harness around his lower back, pulls a 45-pound cart, plastered with his logo, "Sun Walk 2008."

"Walking here is so unusual, that it's a good way to spread a message," he said. "People are curious. 'What is that all about?' "

Vosseler advocates solar energy as a solution to global warming, as well as efficient use of other renewable sources such as wind and geothermal energy.

He arrived in Kennett Square Monday night from Rising Sun, Md., and spent the better part of yesterday making the trek along Route 1 into Philadelphia. He has passed through 10 states, with his sights set on arriving in Boston on Aug. 20.

Vosseler has been active in environmental causes since the mid-1970s , and began promoting solar energy after his chief concern - nuclear war - eased with the collapse of the Soviet Union. He gave up his medical practice in 1995 to devote full attention to his nonprofit advocacy organization.

In his fourth long-distance trek advocating renewable energy, and first in the U.S., he has set out to impress upon curious pedestrians his ideals for increased use of solar energy and other natural sources and how something so simple as walking can have a positive effect on the environment. Just last year, he also completed the first solar-powered boat trip across the Atlantic Ocean.

Vosseler thinks of himself as an "environmental doctor" now, and likens the global warming situation today to a patient with arterial bleeding.

"There is one thing you should do, and nothing else, and that is stop the bleeding," he said.

Vosseler didn't just choose the U.S. for this trip arbitrarily. He believes that the world's largest consumer of energy has enormous potential to become a world leader in environmental causes.

"I believe very much in the innovative potential of the United States," said Vosseler, who served five years as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School in the 1970s. "If an idea here is ready, and there is a common will, it can take off very quickly."

He would not criticize the Bush administration's current environmental policies, but acknowledged he is looking forward to a new administration in January. And while he admitted that not too many convenience stores have been able to recycle his plastic bottles so far, people have been receptive to him.

"I am overwhelmed by the interest, the curiosity, and the awareness of the people," he said, noting that rising gas prices and economic concerns have made people aware that "something needs to be done."

As he tried to avoid oncoming traffic along Baltimore Pike yesterday in Media, he occasionally waved to drivers. Some waved back, others took pictures with their cameraphones, and some just stared.

Vosseler walked briskly in sandals, of which he has gone through seven pairs since he began his walk. He hasn't owned a car since he sold his Renault in 1979 after a friend told him about the harmful gases emitted from automobiles.

"People forget how thin the Earth's atmosphere is," he said as he entered Springfield, noting that it is just four miles thick. "I can walk that in an hour."

To see a video of Martin Vosseler's walk across America, go to http://go.philly.com/sunwalk

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