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!)

All over the world water is fast becoming liquid gold; in so much as it is rarer and more valuable than ever. The earth could easily provide enough drinking water for every person on the planet, the problem is, not every person on the planet is capable or has the facilities to do this; though for most it’s a lack of motivation or ‘need’ to collect their own water. To find our own water takes research, energy and a little know how to set up a self-sufficient water system.  In the UK, the ease of turning on tap and the lack of apparent importance placed on water usage make it easy for us to take this life essential substance for granted.

In other places in the world, particularly those with dense populations and dry skies, water usage is an issue being aggressively addressed. Back home in Australia we were brought up with water restrictions every summer (no running through the sprinklers in the hot 40 degree Celsius midday sun, turn the tap off when brushing your teeth, share a bath, only water the garden on your neighbourhood’s dedicated day etc). The worth of water is, I’m learning, as high a priority here in urban California as it is in urban Australia. In the San Francisco library yesterday I picked up a copy of the first issue of the National Geographic sponsored ‘Water for Tomorrow’ magazine which focuses solely on California’s water ‘situation’. Just this February gone Governor Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought emergency in California predicting that as the result of both natural and manmade conditions it could be the longest drought that the state has ever known.

With a population growth of 9 million since their last drought and the alteration in rainfall patterns climate change is bringing, California finds itself in the midst of  major water crisis with farmers (or the feeders) feeling the brunt of it. The good news is it’s bringing about major efficiencies in technologies (farmers are shifting to lower value water intensive crops to higher value water efficient crops as well as improving their irrigation methods) and new legislations are being enacted to encourage water conserving in building systems as well as metering to measure individuals water usage.

According to Global Water Intel last year’s stats show London water costs us US $3.57 per cubic meter, in comparison to San Francisco who pays US $3.14. America’s water prices are indeed climbing due to shortages and they are doing something about it. The cost of water includes capital costs (maintaining the distribution system that brings water from source to you), upgrading and extending facilities, operating expenses, salaries of the water engineers and technicians… the list goes on. Basically there is a whole lot of set up and upkeep required to bring us the clear, liquid stuff. We rely so heavily on water yet seem to take it for granted… I know I do at least… until faced with the prospect of not being able to get any – to wash, to drink to cook with - then it’s a whole other kettle of... water!

San Francisco is widely known to be one of the most environmentally progressive cities in the world and does indeed present that way in many cases. You walk down just about any street in the city and you’ll see signs of its eco friendly qualifications. There’s the ‘three person ride share’ lane on the highways going into the business districts, the ‘trees for the city’ signs on trees planted in aid of the campaign, recycle bins everywhere you go (from the cinema to the library), ‘share the road’ signs to encourage communion of cyclists and motorists on the roads, service businesses such as car washes and drycleaners advertising their eco credentials, organic fair-trade café’s galore and certainly less petrol guzzling SUV’s on the road than anywhere else in the country. Yes, if there were any city in the world that could call themselves ‘green’ it’s this one. Or so I thought…

I read an article the other day in the San Francisco Chronicle about how the national standard for energy saving of buildings, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), is not performing as it should and that developers are using it to move projects through the system faster as well as charge higher rents. Though it rewards energy-efficient buildings that have features like low-flow water fixtures, bike storage, nontoxic paints and solar power, a new study has found that 25% of new buildings approved do not save as much energy as expected and most don’t monitor their energy use at all.

The good news is the national eco buildings standard LEED is improving with legislations being set in place to make owners of new buildings more accountable for their operations by requiring them to provide the first five years of utility bills in order to receive certification. But energy experts say there is a long way to go and the standards should be stricter. For a leading green city that has a history of setting the bar for radical and progressive ideas (think gay and women’s rights) one hopes the standards will be made tighter as soon as possible so that they will be embraced by other eco aspiring cities.