Houston - and Texas in general - can be a tough place to feel like you are making a difference, but my fiancée and I are working on it. It's amazing the things you can do just around your own house. We bought a well-built 60-year-old home within walking distance of the university where he attends school, and I am only four miles from work. I got rid of my gas guzzler car. We compost our organic household and yard waste, and plan to install a rainwater catchment system as well as slowly converting to solar energy. We use ceiling fans and open the windows instead of using the A/C. Our kitchen required repairs, and we re-used as much of the existing material as possible during the remodel. Anything we no longer need we offer up on freecycle.org, donate to non-profits or recycle if possible. This spring we started replacing our water-needy lawn with hardy and native landscape plants. Our ultimate goal is to have an urban permaculture environment that will inspire others that they can make a difference too.