NEWBURYPORT — Regardless of political, religious or cultural views, Carlyn Johnson says the environment can bind us together.

"The environment affects us all," Johnson said. "When people have a common issue to work on, the cultural and political aspects don't matter."

Johnson, a 2007 graduate of Triton Regional High School and Parker Ridge Way resident, has traveled far from home and across the desert to find just how important the environment is.

Johnson, daughter of Lisa Johnson, returned home last Sunday night from a two-month stay in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel, 30 minutes north of the southernmost part of the country, at the cross of the borders with Egypt and Jordan on the Red Sea where the Arava Institute is located.

Johnson was doing an internship with The Arava Institute and with her advisers, Tareq Abu Hamed, director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at the institute, and Eric Pallant, professor of Environmental Studies at Allegheny College.

Near the institute was the Negev Desert, one of the only places on earth with high levels of solar radiation. The testing of solar panels that can repel sand from sandstorms is one of the projects Johnson was able to work on.

"My dad, Barry Johnson, died when I was 12," Johnson said. "I wanted to be an engineer because of him. He was an electrical engineer."

With a commitment to engineering and a love of people, Johnson hopes to one day work in developing countries to help residents with sustainable energy issues.

"I'd like to work with engineers without borders or just travel abroad into developing countries and work on humanitarian aspects of sustainability," Johnson said. "I want to help people through working with the environment and making them sustainable."

As part of this commitment to the world and environment, Johnson will be honored this week with a national Udall Scholarship. Nominated by one of her college professors at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, Johnson is one of 80 students studying environmental issues who will be honored. She will travel to Arizona to collect her award.

"Collaboration all begins with dialogue," Johnson said. "Some people think you can't just sit and talk about the issues, but unless there is dialogue and communication, there is nothing."

In Israel, Johnson worked to help solve water sustainability issues and a prior stay in Ghana last summer focused on the impacts of the biofuel plantation and eco-tourism.

"In Israel the focus is on water and solar energy," Johnson said, noting desalinization needs to be done for much of Israel's water supply. There is also a push to connect the Red and Dead Seas.

Johnson, who is taking part in a five-year degree program that will result in a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering, a bachelor's degree in physics and a self-designed minor in sustainability, will go back to Allegheny College for her final year of the three-year program before moving to Columbia University where she will study for an additional two years.

Johnson said while she will be home only a couple of more weeks before heading back to school, the issues and push to go green in Newburyport give her hope for the rest of the nation.

"Newburyport really wants to be marketed as a green place," she said. "But in order for that to happen, collaboration must happen. Just like in Israel, it starts with dialogue and people trusting each other that they want what's best for the environment and the people living in it."