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GET INVOLVED IN SCHOOL DECISION MAKING. Join your school's PTA and start pressing for change - from easy, inexpensive improvements, like switching to nontoxic cleaning supplies, to major changes, like building energy-efficient new schools from sustainable, healthy materials. Schools certified by the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, known as LEED, cost an average of $3 more per square foot to build, though these facilities typically see payback within a few years due to reduced energy, water, and health-related costs. A 125,000-square-foot school, for example, can expect to see savings of about $100,000 annually. "Building green is a money saver; that's how you get the bonds passed and taxpayer approval," says Rachel Gutter, the council's school sector manager, based in Washington, D.C. "But healthy kids and reduced costs? It's a no-brainer." The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust, which helps fund clean-energy projects and green-building design, planning, and construction, has $15 million in grant money set aside for schools; the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School, for example, was recently awarded $340,000 for rooftop solar panels. (Schools are also eligible for grant money from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.) To connect with a green-schools advocate in your area, also consider contacting the Massachusetts Farm-to-School Project , which helps connect school food programs with local growers; the practice reduces the carbon costs and packaging associated with shipping.

SIGN A PETITION. Going door-to-door is so 1970s. Today, signatures are collected and "demonstrators" gather online. "In the old days, if you marched out on the streets, it would get 30 seconds of coverage on the evening news," says An Inconvenient Truth producer Laurie David. So she launched StopGlobalWarming.org, where citizens can join John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger in what David calls a "virtual march" that's on public display all day, every day. Over at the League of Conservation Voters (lcv.org), you can urge presidential candidates to take a stand on global warming and ask Congress to act on clean energy.

MINGLE. Going out for martinis may not seem like a community-oriented task, but local branches of the international social network Green Drinks (greendrinks.org) can help you connect to neighbors with similar interests, whether your mission is fighting LNG terminals or finding a vegan date. The Boston group (founded with help from environmentalist and 2006 Miss Rhode Island Allison Rogers) has been around since 2005. Other groups have been established in Cambridge-Somerville, Great Barrington, Lowell, Northampton, and Pittsfield, as well as Newport and Providence, Rhode Island.

PRAY FOR CHANGE. Many religious traditions consider environmental stewardship to be a moral imperative. Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light (mipandl.org) helps congregations with energy audits, utility rebate programs, the purchase of renewable energy credits, and other green measures. MIPAL co-founder Tom Nutt-Powell, a member of All Saints Parish Episcopal in Brookline, helped his church save $17,000 by upgrading to a high-efficiency boiler. "Once you see this as an act of faith, you want to do it everywhere," says Nutt-Powell.

Vote for eco-friendly policies and candidates. Contribute money to a "green" nonprofit. Don't know how much to give? A good guideline is to pick an organization whose mission you like and then donate the cost of the last pair of shoes you bought. Vote with your wallet by buying goods and services from companies that support a healthy planet and use organic ingredients and eco-friendly packaging.

AT WORK

WATCH THE THERMOSTAT. According to the US Department of Energy, heating and cooling are the number one source of energy use in office buildings. Ideally, individuals could control the climate of their personal work spaces, but if that's not an option, suggest that your employer keep temperatures set to an energy-efficient 70 degrees in winter, 75 degrees in summer. Programming thermostats to automatically reset temperatures at appropriate times - after the workday ends, for example - can also help increase efficiency. At Artists for Humanity, a Boston nonprofit that employs teens in the arts, such devices help keep heating costs down. The group built a new green facility two years ago that uses about 70 percent less energy than a comparable conventional building would. Still, conscientious behavior also plays a role. "We keep it comfortable," says outreach and marketing associate Shane O'Garro, "but we pay attention to indoor temperatures all the time."

START (OR JOIN) A GREEN TASK FORCE. Sustainability groups can help implement change throughout an entire organization. Starting with simple things - like buying recycling bins and posting signs that remind co-workers to use them - can lead to influencing corporate decisions on issues such as purchases, renovations, power, and employee programs like telecommuting. That's what happened at Boston architecture firm Payette Associates, where a grass-roots in-house group formed about eight years ago. Eventually, the corporate culture changed to encourage recycling, resource efficiency, and even composting of coffee grounds. "It's occurring at a fundamental level," says Arlen Li, associate principal and a catalyst of the change. "People have really latched onto it."

CONDUCT A WASTE AUDIT. Individuals, departments, or entire companies can identify wasted resources by taking stock of everything that goes into the trash and recycling over a certain period of time, usually a week or a month. Knowing what materials are thrown away provides insight into ways a company can cut back or reuse, which can help keep both ecological and waste-removal costs down. The environmental information website Earth 911 has a "Business Resources" section (earth911.org) that explains the process well.

USE LESS PAPER. The virgin pulp and paper industry is the largest industrial polluter of water worldwide and one of the top emitters of global-warming pollution, according to the National Resources Defense Council. The typical US office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copier paper each year, according to the council - and less than half of it gets recycled. So think twice about what you print out, make double-sided copies, send internal memos via e-mail, use scrap paper to take notes or print drafts, send faxes digitally, and so on. Recycling the paper you do use means saving forests and water, reducing toxic pollution, and keeping waste out of landfills.

 

 

 

IN THE COMMUNITY

PUT YOURSELF IN THE PUBLIC EYE. Got an environmental platform or plan? Run for town council, state senate, or a position in a civic organization. In 2006, Allison Rogers, who had graduated from Harvard two years before, decided to spread the word by competing for the title of Miss Rhode Island. She surprised the pageant circuit with her unusual cause - the environment - and won the crown. She spent her yearlong reign making presentations about global warming to students, businesses, and other groups; she even marched in parades instead of waving at crowds from a car. "You hear that the environmental movement is preaching to the choir," says Rogers, who now works for the Green the Capitol Office of the US House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. "I wanted to reach out to a new audience."

JOIN AN ADVOCACY GROUP. Organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group lobby and run awareness campaigns for a broad range of causes. Other national nonprofits, such as Surfrider Foundation, focus on single issues, such as ocean protection; that group's regional chapters hold beach cleanups. Strictly local organizations - like the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which works to preserve the region's natural heritage, and the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, which advocates in Massachusetts for the regulation of environmental health hazards - tackle issues close to home.

SHAKE UP YOUR TOWN. Taking action locally can be more rewarding - and more immediate - than trying to foster change higher up the chain. Attend town or city meetings to bring up pressing environmental issues that aren't already on the agenda, or speak out on those that are. Many town and city council or board of selectmen meetings have dedicated time for citizen communications; if yours doesn't, contact your representative or a member of the energy, recycling, solid waste, or other municipal commissions to request that your cause be placed on the docket. Kate Abend, climate change outreach coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a national scientific research and advocacy group with headquarters in Cambridge, suggests sending a handwritten note or calling local politicians to add a personal touch. "Be as specific as possible: Is there a global warming reduction target you want to achieve? Did a problem affect your child? Tell the story of why you care, because that's what's appealing.

REACH OUT TO YOUR NEIGHBORS. Know something that other people in your community don't? Trying to get a local ordinance passed? Set up panels, lectures, or start a community task force to spread education and awareness. Cambridgeport resident Steve Morr-Wineman, who works for a human services nonprofit, cofounded the GreenPort neighborhood group a year ago. Today, the group educates and empowers the local community to make changes concerning transportation, home energy, and food choices by bringing in speakers, handing out CFL bulbs donated by NSTAR, and sending representatives to local government hearings where decisions about environmental causes are being made. "The common thread among everything we do is community building," says Morr-Wineman.

GO NATIVE. "Our backyards are corridors to wild habitats," says Debra Strick, a spokeswoman for the New England Wild Flower Society, where flora that grow naturally in New England yards will flourish without the use of fertilizers or pesticides, and require less watering than nonnative varieties. Plants should be nursery-propagated, not taken from the wild, and be sure to avoid invasive species altogether.

COMPOST. SERIOUSLY. Composting kitchen and yard waste is one of the best ways homeowners can reduce the amount of garbage they're sending to the dump. Yes, organic waste is biodegradable, but without light and oxygen, anything can become virtually mummified in a landfill; according to the EPA, 30-year-old cabbages and carrots have been identified in dumps. Even city residents can make a difference. In Boston, for example, leaves and grass clippings are turned into compost that enriches the city's 150 community gardens. "Gardeners call compost 'black gold,'" says Valerie Burns, president of the Boston Natural Areas Network "Without it, our community gardens couldn't grow food year after year, because the soil would become depleted of nutrients." Apartment dwellers, you're not necessarily off the hook: The network recommends vermiculture - that's letting worms make mulch out of your organic waste - for indoor bin composting. Ask about getting started at a gardening store.

PASS ON PARTICLEBOARD. Indoor air quality is affected by formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, found in carpeting, plywood, subflooring, paint, and furnishings. You don't have to remodel your entire house, but choose lower-VOC options going forward. Strong fumes are one indicator of harmful gases, but some products, including interior paints, indicate whether they are "low-VOC" on their packaging.

PLUS

Buy food at farmers' markets to help support local agriculture. Turn the water off while shaving and brushing your teeth. Use aerating shower heads and faucets. Insulate your hot water heater's tank with a $20 insulating jacket from the hardware store. Insulate yourself with a cardigan, and turn the thermostat down to a comfortable 68 degrees this winter. (Lower it to 55 while you're out or sleeping.) Seal the gaps around windows and doors; a typically leaky US home has the equivalent to a 3-by-3-foot hole in the wall, according to the nonprofit research and lobbying organization Natural Resources Defense Council. Use a clothesline if you can. According to Energy Star, washers and dryers account for 6 percent of the average home's annual energy bill. Recycle obsolete computers and home electronics (it costs just $10 per large item, like a monitor, at Staples stores).