​On Earth Day,1990,  I spoke to 100,000 people at Toronto City Hall. It should have been the best day of my life, but it was not. My heart was breaking as I read my story of 'Salvadoro the Ant'. The expedition that I believed could help save the Amazon, and had been planning for six months was not going to happen. The day before I was told that the promised financial sponsorship from a Supermarket chain, was not there. It was a heart-wrenching disaster that crushed my dreams. To make matters worse, I returned home to find a message on my answering machine left by a disappointed member of the expedition team that was so nasty that I reeled. as if I had been stabbed. In despair, I  walked the streets of Toronto I had spent all my money preparing for the Expedition and had no financial support.  I vowed when I left my job that I would only work for the Earth. How on Earth was I going to continue? 

Then, out of the blue, I remembered hearing about a huge UN environmental conference scheduled to take place somewhere in South America in 1992.  And bang, just like that, I knew what I had to do. "Oh No! Not that." I thought. 

I would walk from Canada to South America to attend and draw attention to this UN Summit. I had no idea if I could do it and was terrified at the prospect, but invigorated by the thought of it I began to dream again, imagine all sorts of wonderful things happening along the way. But for the next three months, I did everything to avoid making the journey,  but deep down I would do it! Three months later, with an overloaded backpack and money for one month, I set off on a journey that would take two years and be so successful that I ended up walking over 47,500 kilometers planting trees on behalf of humanity and the natural environment that we all need to exist.