Buckminster Fuller said:

"You can not change the existing system by fighting it.
You must come up with a better system that makes the existing one obsolete."

I personally try to go for zero waste. Which doesn't mean recycling. It means refusing.
All those little nic-nacs, the coffee-to-go mug, the bags and boxes I get in shops, the free samples of who-knows-what, the pens, the free notepads.....all the stuff I need to deal with later I REFUSE.

Works fine! Try it!

*excellent site, btw. Inspiring.

What if is not a matter of "blaming" anything or anyone. That facts are coming in fast and furious that we ( America and the rest of the planet ) are in economical and ecological collapse! So if you don't do anything to turn this collapse around YOU are the problem. Face it, and face it quik, cause we ( the human race ) doesn't have that much time left. Even if you make through, your grandchildren are in deep (*&^!!!!!

I think there must be a balance between the notion of "I am causing an ecocide" and "structures beyond me are causing an ecocide." On one hand, blaming oneself and focusing on self-renewal isn't going to do shit in the long run. Maybe it will be an encouragement to others to develop a more sustainable lifestyle. When we don't blame structures and systems, we get caught up in ourselves. I hate to say it, but my consumption isn't going to stop Walmart, McDonalds, or Exxon. Resistance isn't found in lifestyle choices, it is found in actions. Lifestyle choices reflect values and ambitions, and perhaps actions, but aren't those actions themselves. They aren't bad. I just don't want to confuse lifestyle and actions. Sounds a little leftist to me, particularly in a magazine issue that is promoting post-leftist or post-anarchist ideas.