I just finished reading the New Yorker article "The Island in the Wind," by Elizabeth Kolbert, which is focused on the Danish island of Samso. About 10 years ago the residents of the island decided to reduce their reliance on conventional energy sources. Today, after some pretty remarkable (but not all major) changes, the island produces (via wind and other renewable sources) more energy than its inhabitants collectively consume. I won't go into the details of how they do it, but this paragraph really struck me: "The residents of Samso that I spoke to were clearly proud of their accomplishment. All the same, they insisted on their ordinariness. They were, they noted, not wealthy, nor were they especially well educated or idealistic."
Kolbert also writes about the 2,000-Watt Society (I'm linking to Wikipedia because it describes the society's goals in plain English). One quote in the article by the project's director, Roland Stulz, about living a 2000-watt life speaks to my philosophy about trying to be more environmentally conscious in my daily life: "... (it's) not a program of hard life.... It's not starving, it's not having less comfort or fun. It's a creative approach to the future." And I also like the simplicity of this statement, "There is no formula for how to achieve a two-thousand-watt society. Three things are needed: societal decisions... technical innovation, and the resolve of every individual to act in an energy-conscious way." Every individual.