Swiss teacher and adventurer Louis Palmer started his China leg of a global tour in a solar-powered vehicle on Sunday in Kunming, southwestern Yunnan Province to spread knowledge about environmental protection.

Vice Mayor of Kunming Wang Xiaoguang became the first passenger of the solar taxi in China. Palmer will drive it to two universities in Kunming on Monday to spread the car's environment friendly and energy-saving feature.

His 39-day China tour also includes such provinces or regions as Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Beijing.

Everyone should make his or her own effort to curb the increasingly worsening global warming trend, Palmer said. He said he hoped to talk with more Chinese environmental protection advocators.

Palmer set off from Luzerne, Switzerland on July 3, 2007 in a mission to make people know about the dangers of global warming and demonstrate to the world that solutions are available to check the trend.

His global tour of 50 countries will take about 18 months.

The solar taxi was made by four Swiss universities. Its speed can reach 90 kilometers. No exhaust is emitted from it.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2008)