I'm not green in the sense that I'm off the grid, or building a house from mud. Those are noble efforts indeed! I live in New York City, and in order to be off the grid, I'd have to be living in a cardboard box. Even subway tunnel dwellers have the benefit of Con Ed supplied lighting.

So I do what I can with the difficulties I encounter.
Most significantly, I don't own a car. That was one of my major reasons for moving here from California where I drove a mammoth SUV. Not only do I not own a car, but I don't take cabs, rarely take the subway, sometimes take the non-gas using buses, and almost always walk. I walk almost 2 miles to work and almost 2 miles home every day. And as an added benefit, my walk is entirely through beautiful Central Park.
I recycle religiously, separating my plastics and my papers.
I don't subscribe to wasteful newspapers, when all the news I need is on my computer. I don't waste random electricity by having the tv on as background filler, and I free cycle EVERYTHING. It is a common practice in New York, to put unwanted items out on the curb. I've seen everyone from the ranting homeless, to the uptown yuppies helping themselves to a good curbside find. I try to leave something everyday, simultaneously ridding myself of clutter, and helping someone else who doesn't have enough.
But I mentioned difficulties, didn't I?
There has been one aspect of my life that was troublesome to me. I recently posted a plea to my greener friends asking what to do with the daily bits of kitty litter that needed disposing. I lamented that I needed to scoop out portions of the litter between more thorough cleanings of the box and felt that plastic bags were my only friend in taking this refuse to the trash cans outside.
Hints and suggestions lead me to treehuggers.com where I learned not only about cornstarch based plastic bags, but I learned about organic kitty litter. I learned that clumping kitty litter may be hazardous to cats as well as land fills, and contrary to claims, it's NOT a good idea to flush it! I did some research and ended up purchasing "Pine Pellets" kitty litter at Whole Foods.
Switching from granulated clumping kitty litter to pine pellets has changed my world. It took a while to convince the kitties that being green was the way to go. But since they've been on board, the bathroom floor as well as the rest of the tiny apartment have been so much cleaner and crunch free!!!!!! My bathroom floor used to have a 1/8" layer of clumping kitty litter all over it at all times. But now, at most, there's a little sawdust or a stray pellet underfoot. It's so much easier to clean up! I can't recommend it enough. Liquids turn the pellets to sawdust which dries out pretty fast. I flush the solids. Occasionally, I scoop out some used sawdust and dispose of it in paper lunch sized bags.
For my regular trash can liners, I use bio degradable corn starch based bags.
Another difficulty in this city is that we don't have garbage disposals. So it is a fact that I have to take smelly things out to the trash daily. I had depended on plastic bags for this purpose in the past. Once again, paper lunch bags to the rescue.
Of course I carry canvas bags with me everywhere I go like a good hippy, but sometime ... sometimes I forget and am forced to except plastic. Rest assured, these are recycled over and over. I use them to carry my "good" shoes to work for example.
So, you see I try to do my little part to be green. I can and will be better. It is not impossible to be a fanatic, even while living in the city. Look at the members of <a href="http://sfcompact.blogspot.com">"The Compact"</a>whom I admire very much. They have made their own rules of conduct and stuck by them.
You can do a little, you can do a lot. The point is, to quote Nike, "Just do it".