It’s a perfect Seattle Saturday, and the March sun glints off a reflector as Bob Jeffers-Schroder unbuckles his helmet and locks his bike. A box strapped to its back wears stickers that plead, “STOP GLOBAL WARMING.”

Jeffers-Schroder uncurls a wad of flyers from his forest-green fanny pack and trots down a quaint Ballard block. He rings the doorbell of the first house. No answer. Unfazed, he tries its neighbor. No answer. He waves to a car as it skims the curb and the driver cracks the window.

“I’m running for Congress because we need to do more to stop global warming,” Jeffers-Schroder says in one breath.

He asks if he can give the driver a flyer, and he accepts.

This is Jeffers-Schroder’s campaign strategy: Knock on 60,000 Seattle homes before the August primary and hand the resident a flyer.

As an independent, Jeffers-Schroder said he hopes to increase the political will to freeze global warming, an issue he thinks should top the nation’s to-do list.

He's after Rep. Jim McDermott's 7th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. But, Jeffers-Schroder emphasized that he isn’t technically running against McDermott, a Democrat who consistently polls well in his district.

“I’m just running to give him a push to do more, along with the rest of Congress,” he said. “I want to demonstrate that there’s enough interest in this issue that it should be getting a lot more priority.”

Jeffers-Schroder, who is a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby, advocates a revenue-neutral carbon tax and a cap-and-dividend bill, both of which have been proposed but can’t seem to progress through the legislature.

McDermott supported a carbon tax that Jeffers-Schroder said wasn’t publicized enough. And Sen. Maria Cantwell’s cap-and-dividend plan, where carbon-emissions permits would be auctioned and the proceeds distributed to Americans, also received little attention.

“What I’ve discovered going out and talking to people is that the majority of people in Seattle are aware that global warming is a problem and that we should do more about it,” he said. “The information they’re missing is that they don’t know what the options are.”

A retired Boeing computer programmer who now lives in Carkeek Park with his wife, Jeffers-Schroder is no stranger to politics. He ran as an independent for state representative in 1966 and 1968, and he doorbelled for Mayor Mike McGinn and President Barack Obama.

The 1970s oil crisis nudged Jeffers-Schroder to live greener, he said.

“I started trying to conserve then, doing things like riding my bike to work, and then later I started running to work,” Jeffers-Schroder said. “Anything but driving.”

Then 10 years ago, he adopted the newest environmentalist buzzword: global warming.

He turned thermostats down and drove even less. He worried his grandchildren wouldn’t be able to go skiing with their grandchildren.

Now, he’s a bit more hopeful, having decided that going door-to-door is the best way to increase awareness.

The one-man campaign is framed entirely around face-to-face interaction—a bit old-fashioned for Generation Y. But, he’s hit more than 17,000 homes since declaring candidacy Jan. 1, tucking flyers into houses when no one is home.

He is always cordial and said the majority of responses are positive.

“I’m with you all the way,” one woman says enthusiastically when he states his mission.

Only a few aren’t so receptive. Some counter that global warming is a hoax, but Jeffers-Schroder doesn’t debate.

“It’s not worth it,” he said.

As he continued down the block, he divulged a couple campaign tips: He likes townhouses because they’re so dense. He doesn’t climb more than 20 steps because it can waste time.

He has no help, proudly independent in every sense of the word.

“I want to be completely independent, not just independent of a party but independent of any special interests,” he said. “I can say anything I want and not worry about letting down supporters. I’m open; I’ll listen to arguments that differ from mine, but I just say what I believe.”

Until the primary, when the top two candidates will advance to the general election, Jeffers-Schroder has plenty to keep himself busy.

He marks neighborhoods on a map as he pedals around Seattle, introducing himself and distributing flyers before he zips up his fanny pack, refastens his helmet and wheels to his next stop.

“I don’t expect to win," he said. "I have to assure my wife that I won’t."

Then, he turns serious, an earnest gleam in his crinkled blue eyes.

“It’s not an ambition to win. But if I did, I’d give it my best.”