At two juctures in my life, I set out to be "low impact":

1990: I bought an electric car, I remodeled my house to be super insulated, compact fluorescents, pellet stove, initiated Recylcling, Community Garden, Farmer's Market, and Cohousing, we ran the local Earth Days two years in a row and supported fledgling photovoltaics (solar hot water was more popular then, wind power still small). We were profiled in some PG&E pamphlet.

2004: Built another house, free range egg operation w 400 hens, milked cow/made raw milk cheese, built large veggie greenhouse, LED bulbs, large photovoltaic array. We lived off what we produced.

Each time, it seemed rather easy to approach self-sufficiency (even with what was then imperfect or relatively expensive tech). I might have been a bit out of step with my contemporaries, but I was trying to set a good example for my community and family (I got a lot of criticism from my Mom, oh well)

Now, it seems this stuff has reached "critical mass" (ie the Capitalists see the money in it, and off it goes...after all wind and solar are becoming cheaper than oil?) This could've happened in the late 70s if Reagan/Big Oil etc hadn't squelched it (my brothers and I were building/selling hot water panels in mid 70s, Jerry Brown "Small is Beautiful" went down in flames). Obama/Biden deserve credit for offering the necessary incentives to get all this off the ground. Forget about climate change etc, many are getting into renewables and foodie stuff just for money?