When it comes environmental impact every little bit, from every little person counts; this is one area of life where each individual can and does make a difference. Unfortunately it’s not always a good difference and sometimes someone else’s negative impact can over rule your positive one. No matter how much recycling you do, if the neighbor is throwing all his in the ditch from his hummer window, its not enough. That doesn’t mean that we should stop trying though, it means that we need to try harder and get other people involved in our efforts. Preaching to litter bugs and arguing with non-vegetarians obviously isn’t going to persuade anyone to go green, but here are some ideas to get your friends and family involved with minimizing our eco-impact.

- Arrange a neighborhood carpool to save on gas money and reduce greenhouse emissions.

- Gather your neighbors together in the spring to plant a community garden. This will allow everyone to get to know each other better and everyone can share the veggies and flowers that are planted.

- Begin a community curbside composting initiative for rich fertilizer that can be used in the community garden.

- Organize neighborhood garbage pick ups to make your community clean and beautiful.

- On Arbor Day celebrate with friends and family by planning a tree planting day with a healthy picnic lunch.

- Host hundred mile summer barbeques and all season dinner parties. You can use food from the garden that you’ve planted with friends and from local farmers.

- Turn your holiday parties into green themed fundraisers and donate the proceeds to a credible charity.

- Encourage neighbors to set up rain barrels and use the collected water to water plants and the community garden.

- Have an annual sidewalk trade sale where neighbors can trade their used things for yours.

- Create a book and magazine swap with friends, family, and neighbors.

- Throw a closet clean out party where every one brings old clothes they no longer wear to be donated to charity. Other things can be brought as well.

There are a lot of ways to turn your neighbors into more environmentally conscience people without shoving it down their throat. Make it fun and let people feel involved instead of harassed. People are a lot more likely to listen and take an interest in something if they don’t feel like they are being threatened. A lot of people just don’t know how to be green and don’t know how easy it can be. Show the people in your life that having a minimum impact on the environment can be as simple as changing a few light bulbs and not wasting water or energy.