LOUIS TRICHARDT - Having walked close to 38 000 kilometres since 1990, Paul Coleman has definitely earned himself the name of Earthwalker. But for him it's more than just walking. It's a way of focussing people's attention on environmental issues, such as the devastating effect of war on both humans and the environment.

Paul's latest endeavour is to walk from England to China, a walk covering a distance of 15 000 miles. His aim is to plant 100 000 000 trees along the way. This number is symbolic of the number of men, women and children who died in warfare over the last century. The aim of planting the trees is also to emphasise the devastating effect a war has on the environment. His epical journey started in November 2000 in Manchester, England. Since then he has walked through the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan. Prior to 2000, he had walked South America, as well as North America. He strives to educate people all the way regarding the environment.

Last year Paul also attended the Earth Summit in South Africa. Initially Africa was not included in his planned walk to China, but he decided that while he is here, he might as well walk through Africa. He was supposed to finish his 15 000 miles journey in 2005, but with the inclusion of Africa he will probably only finish his walk in 2007 over a total distance of 22 000 miles.

Paul left Cape Town in September last year. He this week visited Louis Trichardt where he planted two trees at four schools, including Louis Trichardt High School. During these visits he held environment related talks with the pupils. "You might not be able to stop a war, but you can pick up a plastic bag," says Paul. This is part of the message he wants to convey to children.

Paul will continue his walk later this week when he will visit Musina. On Sunday he will enter into Zimbabwe. By the time he leaves South Africa he would have visited 120 different locations. Apart from the trees planted here, the total number of trees planted either by himself or by organisations through his encouragement already run into millions.

"I would like to refer to what I am doing as a walk of actions, whereby people are given tools for taking action," says Paul.