Capturing the natural renewable resource of solar energy is the power of choice for the natural tourist destinations of the west coast of America. It seems it is for many of the sunnier countries on the North and South American countries. It´s a good thing too, with tourism one of the largest industries in the world, it has the potential to make or break our planet by depleting its resources or helping to educate people on how to use them more wisely. The potential of the southwest to meet the growing energy needs of the rest of the states is huge particularly with the advances of photovoltaic cells and in light of the crude oil crisis. 

One of the 7 wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon which attracts millions of people each year, uses renewable energy to run its facilities. Situated in the ´Solar Capital of the World´ this canyon is not just great for its size (1 mile deep by 18 miles wide), this beauty has a lot to offer in regards to sharing its solar power knowledge with the people that come to view her from all corners of the globe too. The seven solar arrays produce up to 18 kilowatts of energy and supply a third of the power used by the visitor centre on the south rim. Per year the system produces 28,800 kilowatt hours of energy which is enough to power two homes in the sunny state. Any unused energy is sent into the grid and distributed to other buildings that can utilize their solar power.

But harnessing solar energy is not such a new concept at the Grand Canyon. In 1200 AD  the ancestral Puebloans (early Native American people) lived in this wonder until the 13th century AD. Though Arizona is a desert state it is not hot year round (frost on our hire car in the middle of October prove it!). To combat the cold the Puebloans built their dwellings facing south to maximize exposure to the warmth of the low-arcing sun of the winter months. This was also true for the Puebloan cave ruins of Betatakin (see picture below).
It’s not just solar energy helping to keep the Grand Canyon green and clean. The National Parks service has placed recycling bins everywhere. There’s also no heating from the restrooms dryers or hot water in the taps. Nor will you find drinking water from the fountains during winter to help preserve water. There are free shuttle buses that take people to forest trail heads to prevent car congestion and pollution in the park. The forest service is excellent at advertising their ´Back Country Ethics´ throughout the south west also. From information on setting up camp the green way to personal rubbish management, conscious campfire building and sanitation, the service provides through guidelines to ensure people reduce the amount of damage on the ecosystem of the natural environment they are enjoying.

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!?