Rather than throwing away unused clothing and items that are in good shape, consider donating them to your local church, Goodwill, or other charity. Many charities will even work with you to schedule a pick-up time.

Vampire Power: Not Dracula, but the home electronics we leave on standby: TV, printer, DC re-chargers and converters… they cost you and the country almost $100 million worth of WASTED electricity each year.

Encourage your parents to perform an “energy inventory” on the house

If your school doesn't have a recycling program, bring home items that you can recycle at home, such as can, plastic bottles, cardboard, etc.

And local food preserves genetic diversity. In the modern agricultural system, plant varieties are chosen for their ability to ripen uniformly, withstand harvesting, survive packing and last a long time on the shelf, so there is limited genetic diversity in large-scale production. Smaller local farms, in contrast, often grow many different varieties of crops to provide a long harvest season, an array of colors, and the best flavors. Livestock diversity is also higher where there are many small farms rather than few large farms.

At each holiday, donate one old toy for each new toy received. This will reduce the stuff that winds up in landfills, and brings joy to kids that are less fortunate than you.

Use a lunch box or insulated cooler for lunch in lieu of a paper or plastic sack.

Show your support of environmentally concious authors by choosing them for your school projects. You, your classmates, and even your teachers will likely learn more than you expect!

Littering isn't cool, and no one wants to live or go to school in a garbage dump.

During holidays or on your birthday, ask that your friends and family make a donation towards your favorite environmental or animal charity rather than giving you toys.

Here are some other ideas:

Instead of watching TV, spend an hour or two a week volunteering for your favorite cause.

Wear certain articles of clothing a second time if they are not dirty. You'll reduce the amount of laundry you need to do, which cuts down on water usage, and the use of chemicals in your laundry detergent.

On the bottom of every plastic product, (including body lotion bottles, soda and water bottles, contact lenses, etc.), there is a number printed that corresponds to the kind of plastic used. If there is no number, the item isn't recyclable.

Look for the small triangle (or recycling logo) with the number inside.

These numbers are used by recycling centers to tell you what kinds of items they can accept. Avoid buying items without a number on the bottom, and write to the manufacturers explaining that you will not buy their product until they use recyclable containers.

You benefit either directly or when local taxes are kept lower by reduced disposal costs.

If your computers are on a network or need to be left on for remote access and can't be shut down at night, turn off the monitors.

Okay, so that doesn't really rhyme- but use popsicle sticks, newspapers, used office paper, etc. for craft projects.

While disposable straws can be massively useful to folks with certain disabilities, if you don't need them, skip the the straws. Or if you prefer to use them but still want to spare the extra trash, consider bringing your own bamboo or metal straws.