I saw this article and it made me stop and think. I know a lot of us already show that we don't follow in the "crowd" when it comes to things but I liked some of the actionable ideas.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/to-buy-or-not-to-buy-is-there-really-a-question.html

I liked the article overall.  His suggestion to not buy and then to inform the company of why you're not buying or why you are buying an alternative is great.  How can we expect them to change if we're not informing them of our choices and the reasons behind said choices? 

Now I'm thinking about how I could do this in regards to my daughter's clothes.  It's almost time to do the back to school shopping and she's grown 3 inches and gained 3 pounds so far this summer.  Granted, clothes don't come with as much packaging as other items, like electronics, I would still like to buy second-hand as much as possible for both the reduction in always purchasing new and the bonus of less money spent on something used only 6 months.  I guess I could pen an email or letter to the places I would normally shop and inform them I won't be shopping there this year and give them the why.

It's also got me thinking about Christmas and how to do something similar....