Even as I left the eco-village and travelled on towards Copenhagen, the vibe remained the same: people spending quiet Sundays gardening, going for bike rides, reading the paper on the lawn. The Danes understand quality, and live within their means. There were no billboards on the roads, and even the highway rest stops and exit signs were pleasing in their almost involuntary approach to appropriate design.

Denmark had an incredibly far-sighted attitude to green government until about 2001, when a more conservative government was voted in and abolished a lot of the alternative-technology research that had been making such strides. Compared to most of the rest of the world, the remnants of their system are still miles ahead of ours, but many Danes are disappointed in what they consider a backwards trajectory, or at least a standstill.

Movements like organic agriculture and alternative energy in Denmark, however, owe their success to the Danish people just as much as they do to the government initiatives. The attitude of the Danes themselves—they vote, they recycle, they fight causes, they’re involved—has done way more to further progress than simple government initiatives. One Dane told me that Denmark has more clubs and activist groups per capita than any other country in the world.

Obviously, you need popular cooperation to see a turning away from the prevailing tide: this is no revelation. But actually seeing the effect of a million collective good intentions is striking: a respect for the earth and tranquillity were palpable, manifest.

What in Denmark requires a million intentions (20% of the population) translates in the States to fifty million believers, so we’ve a long way to go. But imagine if 20% of Americans were active in the political process in personal ways, by recycling and supporting local producers and maybe growing a bit of our own food…