Bob Jeffers-Schroder spent the first half of 2010 ringing more than 60,000 doorbells to inform residents about the potential dangers of global warming. Now, he'll spend the next two months preparing for his general election battle against Rep. Jim McDermott for Washington's 7th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Though Jeffers-Schroder, who lives near Carkeek Park, entered the race Jan. 1 against 21-year Democratic incumbent McDermott not expecting to win, he did do well enough in the Aug. 17 primary election – beating out five other candidates – to advance to the November top-two general election.

In the primary, McDermott pulled in 79.85 percent of the vote, or 110,914 votes. Jeffers-Schroder, running as an Independent, placed second with 6.38 percent (8,860), more than 2,000 votes ahead of third-place candidate Bill Hoffman.

Jeffers-Schroder said, despite running an old-fashioned door-to-door campaigning on his bicycle without any corporate contributions, he always expected to make it to the general election because Seattleites care about climate change. And, he's glad he did.

"There is a possibility that if we don't act soon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it may be too late to stop it before it wreaks havoc," he said.

Jeffers-Schroder, a retired Boeing computer programmer, was pushed to live greener by the 1970s oil crisis, which led him to start biking or running to work. When global warming started making waves a decade ago, he reduced his driving and energy consumption further.

His primary victory gives Jeffers-Schroder the opportunity to keep talking to people about global warming. Though he has been impressed by Seattleites' knowledge of the issue, there is still more information to get out, he said.

For example, he said many residents were not familiar with the runaway global warming theory, which states that methane and carbon dioxide released by the melting tundra due to global warming will cause the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to become self-sustaining, meaning that even if mankind reduces its emissions to zero, greenhouse gas levels will continue to increase.

Jeffers-Schroder said he is not an alarmist and is not saying it will definitely happen, but the risk is unacceptably high not to do something about it.

He said his campaign has helped remind people of the urgency of the problem. He is in favor of a revenue-neutral carbon tax and a cap-and-dividend bill.

Leading up the the general election, Jeffers-Schroder is taking a different campaigning course. Rather than hand out flyers door to door, he is encouraging organizations to host candidate nights.

Jeffers-Schroder already participated in one at a nursing home, and he said they will help him reach people he missed the first time as well as give an opportunity to other candidates to get their message out.

Jeffers-Schroder said he is not running to beat McDermott in 7th District, which covers Seattle, Vashon Island and parts of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Tukwila and Burien, but to talk to as many people as possible about global warming and push McDermott to do more to fight climate change.

"I want to demonstrate that there's enough interest in this issue that it should be getting a lot more priority," he told the Ballard News-Tribune in March.

He said his campaign also serves a second purpose – to create a viable way for people to run for office without contributions from wealthy donors or corporations.

For more information on Bob Jeffers-Schroder's campaign, visit www.bobforcongress.us.