Travelling through the states of Nevada, Oregon and California these past few months has definitely re-awakened my affinity with wildlife. In Nevada it was the arid scrub land and playa desert, bountiful numbers of soaring eagles and scurrying gecko’s that got me; in Oregon it was pine tree cushioned fresh water lakes, volcano rock linking pathways (McKenzie Pass), and the lush misty forests; in California it was the grand cliff faced beaches of Highway 1, the giant redwood groves and a plenitude of wild fauna (wild elk, deer, raccoons, woodpeckers, tree frogs and skunks to name but a few).

Even those of us who choose to spend our holiday breaks in places where we are closer to the wild side of the great outdoors (be it hiking in the Lake District or camping in Cornwall) often only retrieve enough nature spirit to last the journey back to the big smoke. This is something at least. There are still many who don’t even get a whiff of pine scent or ocean spray. One of my travelling companions, Alan, told me of a 12 year old English boy who, when told his hamburger beef patty came from a cow was so horrified he required counsellor to help him through his shock. This one example (though fairly extreme) shows just how some in our society are so far removed from the source of our over processed, glossy packaged food of our ‘super’ markets and from our natural environment.

Being the pro earth kinda gal that I am I was a tad surprised to discover how disconnected I was from the wild side of nature. Certain forest-scapes reminded me of movie scenes (think Lord of the Rings style); the full moon peeping over the forest lined mountain ridges at dusk reminded me of a giant stadium light; the panoramic view of a crystal blue lake looked a lot like a famous water colour painting I’d once seen. There was once a time when the reverse was true. Much of my childhood holidays were spent camping at a fresh water dam or at our Australia beach house so I was constantly identifying the influences of nature on city life. For example the fabric pattern of a designer dress amidst the pages of Vogue looked to me as if it was inspired by water lilies and new buildings took on the architecture of rolling waves. The latter is how I’d like to get back to viewing things. What it will take is spending more time in wilderness areas and places where we are trying to conserve; (monthly contributions to the Rainforest Foundation, though commendable, ain’t nearly close to what’s needed to reconnect with nature).

If our children are to help us divert climate change and restore the destruction we’ve inflicted on the planet due to industrialized and careless capitalism, they deserve (and need) the time to enjoy it. Just the other day we stopped on Highway 1 beside the grassy cliffs of the North Californian coast for a bathroom stop when I came across a praying mantis eating a freshly caught Monarch butterfly. Wow was it a treat. Getting up close and personal with it (rather than watching it on a Planet Earth box set) is breathtaking. When it has been too long between trips to the wilderness, it seems quite miraculous that nature is capable of surviving without any influence from man whatsoever, despite our every attempt to mould it around our own existence.

Nature in action is quite spectacular. Being amongst it is the only way we (and our children) can truly identify with what we’re conserving.

California is well known worldwide for its surf culture. One reputable surfer on the scene is wetsuit innovator surfer Jack O’Neill of the established surf brand O’Neill’s. Living on the west side of the country and no doubt exposing himself daily to the wild waves of California’s coast beaches; Jack has developed a passion for conservation. One of the best ways to get others involved in an environmentally saving endeavour is via hands on experience, something O’Neill is working to promote through the non profit organization O’Neill Sea Odyssey (OSO).

OSO is ‘living classroom’ created on board a 65 foot catamaran. Sounds like a nice place to learn right? Explains why the innovative curriculum is attracting attention. Starting out as place for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students to receive hands on lessons about the local marine life, the organization also promotes the awareness further afield about the relationship between ocean and the global environment. Through the OSO Community Service Project people can get involved in native plant restoration, beach clean-ups, waste composting and tending to gardens for the homeless.

It would be great if a local UK surf wear designer in the UK established a similar project for the sea life in the popular surf spots in Cornwall and Devon. The eco conscious outdoor brand Howies pledges to give 1% of their turnover or 10% of pre-tax profits (whichever is greater) to grass-root environmental and social projects. Who’s next?

These days whilst traveling, if you are of English, Australian, or American origin, it’s highly likely you’ll cross paths with another fellow from your home country with which you can exchange memories of home, share observations of whatever culture you’re currently immersed in or comfort each other during a rough trot on the road. But every now and then you come across another traveler, from a much farther away land than your own, who teaches you a little something about your home land.

Said person is a young Polish hitchhiker picked up on Hwy 1 in Northern California by the group of four I was traveling with. Of a likeminded eco warrior ilk (like who isn’t in California) Wojtek (pronounced Voy-tek) told us about a brilliant home-made (or is that made-home) house built in Wales by one man, his father-in-law and a bunch of enthusiastic volunteer eco-home enthusiasts. 
If you’ve ever wanted to live in a something that looks something like a cross between the Papa Smurfs house and the hobbits home in the Lord of the Rings, then these are the people to get in touch with. Simon Dale is the man behind this fantastical low impact woodland home. Dug into the hillside for low visual impact and shelter this enchanting home is quite the eco design to commend.

What makes this home so eco? Stone and mud are used for retaining the walls and foundations; spare oak wood from the surrounding woodland is used as the frame; straw bales in the floor, walls and roof offer ‘super-insulation’; lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement); reclaimed wood is used for floors and fittings; a wood burner for heating (the local wood used as fuel is renewable and plentiful); solar panels produce enough energy for lighting, music and the computer; the water arrives by gravity (marvelous invention, that one!) from a nearby spring; and a compost toilet… and that’s just the beginning.

Why would you want to build your own eco home? “Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings”, says Simon. It took an estimated 1500 man hours and £3000 to build, which is about as cheap as it comes in terms of sustainable eco housing… any housing come to think of it.

On his website Simon tells you exactly what you need (“chainsaw, hammer and a one inch chisel, little else really”) to build your own low impact home. He also invites you along to gain some practical experience by working on a project similar to the http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htmone pictured here, before giving it a go yourself. Simon reassures saying you don’t have to be a carpenter or a builder (he wasn’t) to learn how to build this kind of structure.

Sometimes it takes a Polish man in a foreign country to tell you about the magical green places in your own backyard. It’s wonderful to think there are now so many environmentally conscious initiatives and projects happening within the one country, that it’s difficult to keep up with them all.

Something I'm quickly realising about the states is that it has just about anything any person could possibly require: glamour and glitz (Hollywood luxury touches most of the big cities), extra mammoth portions of fries (even a poor man cannot starve here), history (Native American national parks and Statue of Liberty type monuments scatter the country) and of course some of the most spectacular natural landscapes  in the world (from the dense Redwood forests of Oregon to the stunning Californian coastline to the arid desert-scape of Nevada). It is a beautiful country, despite many of us foreigners more obvious political and cultural objections to it.

There is one thing I'm struggling with finding: fresh fruit and vegetables minus the additives. There is definitely fresh produce out there; it's just that it's in concentrated areas. Forget organic in Walmart (the budget friendly supermarket). There is fruit and veg but it's perfectly supernatural (if you know what I mean). I spent a good four hours shopping in there for a 9 day journey. I had to check the ingredients list on every single item I picked up for signs of 'edibility'. It's not normally a finicky, health obsessed characteristic of mine but soon became one as I discovered all sorts of nasties in apparently 'natural' and some 'organic' products. If it wasn't doused with abstract ingredients it was packed with salt and sugar - the apparently 'wholegrain' (grainless) bread tasted like a sweet bun and the nuts tasted like they were grown in the sea.

But hurrah! I've finally found a place (outside the organic hippydom of San Francisco) that feels a little like Greenwich (London) in terms of the fresh produce and organic products on offer. Bend in Oregon, a small town of 80,000 people has a beautiful little park and lake beside which a farmers’ market is held each afternoon. Yet to find a market with dry foodstuffs I have indeed found a few cafes with organic fair trade coffee which I'll be heading to shortly. It seems Oregon has a couple of these organic gem towns. I passed through another small town called Ashland that had an excellent local consumer food cooperative which invited anyone to invest a 'one-time, refundable equity investment of $100 for the 'long term health of our community'. Another dime I found in Ashland was a funky little café called Grilla bites which sold the most delicious organic salads and 'grillas' (toasted panini style spelt bread sandwiches). The highlight was the extract from the book Another Turn of the Crank by Wendell Berry on the back of the Grilla Bites menu which highlighted some of things required from the people for a community to flourish and last. A few points I liked were: always supply local needs first. (And only then think of exporting their products, first to nearby cities, and then to others); see that the old and the young take care of one another... the community knows and remembers itself by the association of old and young and; always include local nature - the land, water, air and native creatures - within the membership of the community.

It seems much of the real organic places are huddled together in the towns that want it most and work to building the demand to support it. When fresh organic produce is rare it seems to me it is in the places that lack community, where every street looks the same and where there is a Wal-Mart in view (which is often - think MacDonald’s every 100miles along a highway and you'll envisage the Wal-Mart effect). Consumer choice makes the community and if you choose genuine organic you create an organically grown community right!?

“The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.” Albert Einstein, it seems may have been a huge inspiration to the people of Black Rock City at this year’s Burning Man festival. Almost a continuation from 2007’s ‘Green Man’ theme, 2009’s ‘Evolution’ theme philosophized about and demonstrated how we got to where we are, why we find ourselves in this state of ‘eco mania’ and what its part is in the overall evolution of man and our consciousness. If that sounds a bit full on, let me tell you, my mind is still boggling at some of the speakers and surrounding discussions. The vast array of sub topics surrounding this main topic of evolution is phenomenal, especially because it is so intrinsically connected with the age of environmentalism we find ourselves in today.

An idea of what kind of seminars and discussions you could wander in to at Burning Man this year (and indeed in many eco ‘conscious communities’ around the world):
Evolution in Action; Evolution of the Conscious Mind; and Conscious Community – an exploration of community outside belonging. Some of the eco oriented workshops included: Karma Chickens’ Power and Water Tour (learn the efficiencies of an experienced desert camp runs their grey water, shower, battery and solar power facilities); Black Rock Solar (shows you how to create your own alternative energy installation); Harvesting Rainwater and Grey water and the Eco-Fabulous Re-Fashion Show. There are also a lot of educational talks (Technomadic Lifestyle Workshop in which I learnt how to combine technology and travel to live and work on the road. Digital nomad-ism and location independent living – interesting tips!), healing workshops (Tai Chi Wake up, Didgeridoo & Sounding Bowl Shamanic Journey and Tool Reflection Meditation) and plenty of fun workshops/installations (Make Your own Hula Hoop, Sunscreen Station, Darwin Monkey Bar, Rock Star Spa Treatments and Giant Lego games.)

There were plenty of ideas to take away from this year’s festival. Education is the key to our evolution that is for sure; something I picked up on the plane ride leaving London in an article in The Times titled “Evolution is fact. End of story”. The journalist had interviewed Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and The Greatest Show on Earth who discusses what is needed from each of us to evolve: ‘many people just don’t know what the facts are. They are simply uneducated. And that’s a fault of us as scientists for not going out there and communicating with them.” Given ‘40% of American believe that the world is less than 6,000 years old (according to Dawkins) its forums like Burning Man that can make this information accessible to the wider ‘uneducated’ world… I include myself in this as there is so much in the studied area of evolution (mind, body and spirit) that I’m yet to discover.

The big message to take away from Burning Man’s ‘Evolution’ theme was to be aware of our individual role in evolving human kind because essentially each action we take, particularly when it comes to looking after our environment, does count on a person to person basis. We are responsible for waking each other up to how we treat the planet and that’s best done leading by example as well as sharing our eco ideas and knowledge gained from others (be it at a festival in the desert or an internet blog site!)